Kyiv, Bratislava and the oil transit deadline of 1 January 2025
A look back at the date Ukraine planned to suspend Russian oil transit to Slovakia, and the dispute that preceded it.
What happens when a transit deadline arrives amid open threats between neighbours? On 1 January 2025, the date Ukraine had set to suspend the transit of Russian oil to Slovakia, that question hung over relations between Kyiv and Bratislava.
In the days before, the argument had sharpened. On 28 December 2024, Slovakia threatened reciprocal measures against Ukraine's plans, including suspending electricity supplies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded by accusing Slovakia of opening a "second energy front" against Kyiv under Moscow's orders.
The dispute had older roots. As described later, it grew out of Ukraine's tightening of sanctions against Lukoil on 24 June 2024, which included a ban on its oil supplies and the reassignment of its contractual obligations to supply Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline to other companies. Officials in Hungary and Slovakia complained to the European Commission of a looming energy crisis and threatened to halt military aid, energy and diesel supplies to Ukraine. The Commission, after examining the situation, saw no reason for concern.
A separate diplomatic track
Kyiv was also busy elsewhere. On 30 December 2024, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha met Syria's de-facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus. The two countries re-established diplomatic relations, and Syria said it hoped to form a "strategic partnership" with Ukraine. Ukraine also vowed to send additional food aid to Syria.
The turn of the year thus found Ukraine pressing a contested energy decision with a neighbour while opening a new diplomatic channel far from its borders.
