PM Fico to Discuss Druzhba Oil Supplies with Zelenskyy on Friday

Bratislava, 26 February (TASR) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) will hold a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, to discuss oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, the Government Office's press department confirmed to TASR on Thursday. Fico had already announced the call during a meeting with students in Spisska Nova Ves (Kosice region) on Thursday. "Volodymyr, do you really want to lose the support of the Slovak Republic for your European ambitions? Because you are losing Slovakia's support for your European ambitions," Fico declared in his video posted on Facebook. At the same time, the prime minister stated that he has intelligence information according to which the Druzhba pipeline is not damaged. He also noted that, in his view, several countries continue to cooperate commercially with Russia. He pointed to purchases of liquefied natural gas by some European Union member states and to the purchase of enriched uranium by the United States. Russian oil has not been flowing through the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia since 27 January. According to Ukraine, the reason is a Russian attack on a pipeline facility in the city of Brody in the Lviv region. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Fico suspect Kiev of political blackmail and of interfering in the election campaign in Hungary. Ukraine rejects this and says it is working to repair the damaged infrastructure. mf