Hungary and Slovakia have been accused of blackmail by Ukraine over the supply of electricity to the nation.
Under years of Russian strikes, Ukraine's power grid has struggled, with thousands being left without electricity, heat and water multiple times.
Under these conditions, Ukraine has been largely reliant on emergency electricity supplies from both Slovakia and Hungary, but these are now under threat too.
Both of the neighbouring nations still utilise Russian oil, which has been cut off from them since the end of January, following a Russian drone strike that hit oil pipelines in Western Ukraine and stopped the oil from travelling to the two countries.
Now, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has said that unless Ukraine resumes the shipments of Russian oil through this territory, emergency electricity supplies would come to a near immediate response.
Taking to social media, Fico said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was refusing “to understand our peace-oriented approach and, because we do not support the war, he is behaving maliciously toward Slovakia”.
Kyiv has hit back in a statement of its own from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling the demands “provocative, irresponsible”.
“Ukraine rejects and condemns the ultimatums and blackmail by the governments of Hungary and the Slovak Republic regarding energy supplies between our countries,” the statement reads.
“Ultimatums should be sent to the Kremlin, and certainly not to Kyiv.”
