Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday urged Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to stop buying Russian oil, saying Kyiv could supply energy to Slovakia provided it was not sourced from Russia.
Zelensky made the appeal during a meeting with Fico in Zakarpattia, a region in western Ukraine, and repeated his call for European energy independence in a post on X after the talks.
"I told him that Kyiv was ready to supply gas and oil to Slovakia, but only if it’s not Russian gas or Russian oil because we are at war — that’s the bottom line," Zelensky said, according to his post. "[An] important issue is Europe’s energy independence. Russian oil, just like Russian gas, has no future."
The meeting came a day after former U.S. President Donald Trump urged European leaders to reduce their reliance on Russia’s energy sector, a step the White House said would help push Moscow toward substantive steps to peace. The White House described Trump’s message on Thursday as aligned with calls for nations to deprive Russia of a major revenue source that fuels its war in Ukraine.
Trump has for months signaled he is considering secondary sanctions targeting countries that purchase Russian oil, although he has not implemented such measures. The potential for secondary sanctions has raised concerns in some European capitals about the economic and political ramifications of severing energy ties with Moscow.
Zelensky has repeatedly urged European partners to cut off Russian energy as part of a broader strategy to limit Moscow’s ability to finance military operations in Ukraine. Slovakia imports energy through a mix of sources and has debated how quickly to shift away from Russian supplies amid domestic political divisions.
During Friday’s meeting, Zelensky emphasized alternatives to Russian energy supplies and framed the issue within the context of the ongoing war. He reiterated that Ukraine could provide non-Russian gas and oil to its neighbor, a proposal aimed at both meeting Slovakia’s energy needs and reducing European dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
The discussions between Kyiv and Bratislava follow months of diplomatic efforts by Ukraine and its allies to encourage Europe to find replacements for Russian energy, while balancing short-term supply and price concerns. Any shift away from Russian oil by European states would represent a significant adjustment in the continent’s energy landscape and could have wide-ranging economic and geopolitical consequences.
Officials from Slovakia and the United States did not immediately offer detailed responses to Zelensky’s post or to questions about how quickly any transition away from Russian oil might proceed. The issue of energy supply and sanctions remains a focal point in diplomatic talks surrounding the conflict in Ukraine.