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Poland is ready to help Ukraine if Slovakia stops supplying electricity

Poland is ready to increase its electricity exports to Ukraine if Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico follows through on his threat to cut off backup electricity supplies to the war-torn country. This was reported by Bloomberg with reference to a senior Polish official, according to Komersant ukrainskyi.

According to the official, who wished to remain anonymous due to the secrecy of the negotiations, the Polish government is even ready to increase domestic electricity production to compensate for any imbalances that the overstretched Ukrainian power system may experience.

As you know, recently, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, he wants to take revenge for Kyiv’s refusal to transit Russian gas to Europe.

“After January 1, we will assess the situation and possible reciprocal measures against Ukraine. If necessary, we will stop supplying electricity, which is essential for Ukraine during blackouts,” Fico wrote on Facebook.

How the Ukrainian side reacts

“It seems that Putin has instructed Fico to open a second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the interests of the people of Slovakia. This is the only way Fico’s threats to cut off Ukraine’s emergency electricity supply in the winter in the face of Russian attacks on our power plants and distribution network can mean,” President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response to the Slovak prime minister’s threats.

The Head of State said that Slovakia’s share of electricity imports to Ukraine is about 19%, and the Ukrainian government is already working with Ukraine’s neighbors in the EU to maintain the necessary volume of electricity supplies.

Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko also commented on Slovakia’s threats to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine on the air of the national telethon “United News”. According to him, Ukraine has a mechanism to replace these imports with other neighbors who are ready to increase their respective capacities. The Minister emphasized that such negotiations with partners have already been held.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center, also believes that the volumes that Ukraine currently receives from Slovakia can be easily compensated for through another connection. [Kommersant] has already cited his opinion. According to the expert, the maximum that can happen is that Slovakia will lose money in addition to the money it will definitely lose from the termination of gas transit.

As you know, Ukraine can currently receive up to 2.1 GW of electricity from the EU through four countries: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania.