Fighter jets and a pipeline row: Kyiv's August 2024 pressures
A look back at two developments, an aircraft delivery and a Slovak threat over oil transit, that framed Ukraine's relations with allies and neighbours in early August 2024.
What did Kyiv's partners give it, and what did a neighbour threaten to withhold, in the days leading up to 6 August 2024?
On 4 August 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had received its first F-16 fighter aircraft from NATO allies. The announcement placed the delivery within the wider stream of military aid to Ukraine during the war.
A different kind of pressure came from the west. On 31 July 2024, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to suspend Slovakia's diesel exports to Ukraine. His condition was tied to the Ukrainian government's suspension of pipeline oil transport from the Russian company Lukoil. Slovakia claimed the suspension was causing a national energy crisis.
Two sides of dependence
Taken together, the two items show Ukraine receiving advanced equipment from allies while facing a dispute with a neighbour over fuel supplies. Slovakia's threat concerned diesel exports, while the disputed measure concerned Lukoil oil transit. Both developments were in the news as 6 August 2024 began.
