(Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to visit Ukraine’s capital Kyiv this Friday, responding to his offer of talks to try to resolve a spat over the end of Russian gas deliveries.
Russia’s gas flows to Europe ended at the start of the year following the expiration of a transit agreement between Kyiv and Moscow. Ukraine refused to extend the deal, seeking to stop energy revenue going to Moscow to fund its nearly three-year invasion.
Fico says the move has cost Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, through higher gas prices and the loss of fees to transit the gas further into Europe, and he is seeking to have the flows restored.
Fico said in an open letter to Zelenskiy, published by his office, that a meeting could take place in Slovakia near the Ukraine border to discuss technical solutions to the matter.
“Such a meeting will create a good basis for an open discussion on gas supplies to Slovakia and other countries through the Ukrainian territory,” Fico said.
Zelenskiy, who had earlier accused Fico of opening a “second energy front” against Ukraine on the orders of Russia, replied to the letter succinctly.
“Ok. Come to Kyiv on Friday,” he said on social media platform X.
On December 22, Fico travelled to Moscow to meet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin and to discuss the transit arrangements, sparking criticism from Ukraine.
Fico previously said a deal was close that would have seen gas deliveries via Ukraine continue by having it change ownership beforehand. But he claims Zelenskiy rejected extending any gas flows through Ukraine at EU summit in December.
If the problem with gas transit is not resolved, Fico has threatened to cut emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine, reduce aid for Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia or use its veto right on EU decisions on Ukraine.
Fico argues Europe has suffered multi-billion euro losses from a rise in gas prices caused by the absence of around 13.5 billion cubic metres of gas that flowed through Ukraine last year.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet in Prague, Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk; editing by Jason Neely and Christina Fincheryulii)
