Zelensky urges Slovakia to stop buying Russian oil after Trump’s push

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the Slovakian prime minister to stop buying Russian oil during a meeting Friday, amplifying the White House’s calls this week for European nations to quit contributing to Moscow’s main source of income for its war on Kyiv.

Zelensky met Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Zakarpattia, Ukraine, where he said he told the leader 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.”

“[An] important issue is Europe’s energy independence,” Zelensky said in a post to X after the meeting. “Russian oil, just like Russian gas, has no future.”

It comes a day after Trump urged European leaders to stop relying on Russia’s energy sector to push Russian President Vladimir Putin toward substantive steps to peace, the White House said Thursday.

Trump has been considering levying secondary sanctions targeting countries that purchase Russian oil for months, but has stopped short of pulling the trigger.

“[French] President [Emmanuel] Macron and European leaders called President Trump into their ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting,” a White House official said Thursday. “President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war — as Russia received $1.3 billion in fuel sales from the EU in one year.”

Zelensky in his post to X said he also relayed his discussions with Trump on Thursday to the Slovakian leader — and updated him on “the work with leaders of the coalition of the willing to bring peace closer and guarantee Ukraine’s security — about the security architecture for Europe.“

“Slovakia will not stand aside,” he said.

Slovakia, alongside Hungary, is one of the most prolific European purchasers of Russia oil. The European Union granted Budapest and Bratislava exemptions to its embargo of Russian crude in 2022 due to both countries’ reliance on Moscow for their energy needs.

However, France, Belgium and Spain — all proclaimed adversaries of the Kremlin — accounted for roughly 85% of all Russian liquid natural gas (LNG) imports in 2024, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

The Czech Republic formerly was in the same boat as a neighboring country, but completely divested from Russian oil in a significant move this year protesting the Kremlin’s war.

Slovakia has also had a more chummy relationship with the Kremlin than most other European nations. For example, Fico attended China’s military parade this week alongside Putin, raising eyebrows among countries concerned about both Moscow and Beijing’s expansionist desires.

There, Fico said he held an hourlong discussion with Putin focused on the Ukraine war, on which he briefed Zelensky during their Friday meeting.

“President V. Putin informed me about the course of negotiations with U.S. President D. Trump in Alaska and about the prospects for ending this military conflict,” he said Thursday.

“From this important conversation, I drew several conclusions and messages that I intend to convey to Ukrainian President V. Zelensky.”

Neither Fico nor Zelensky disclosed the nature of his messages Friday.