Slovakia Threatens To Halt Diesel Supplies To Ukraine Unless Oil Transit Restored

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on July 29 that his country would halt diesel supplies to Ukraine if Kyiv failed to restore oil flows from Russian group LUKoil through its territory. Kyiv put LUKoil on a sanctions list last month, stopping the company's oil from passing through Ukraine to Slovak and Hungarian refineries. Fico said if the transit of Russian crude through Ukraine is not renewed in a short time, Slovakian refiner Slovnaft will not continue to supply diesel to Ukraine. Fico said that he proposed a technical solution to restore the stopped oil flows on July 26 to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. He gave no details other that it would involve multiple countries. Slovakia and Hungary have opposed Western military aid to Ukraine as it fights Russia's invasion.