ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday invited Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to visit Kyiv to discuss “all issues" in the wake of an oil pipeline row between the two countries.

"Right now, President (Zelenskyy) is speaking with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. The President invited him to Ukraine to discuss all issues," Ukraine's Presidential Office said in a statement on US social media company X.

The statement gave no further details on the talks, and neither Zelenskyy nor Fico commented on the phone call.

Earlier in the day, the Slovak premier said he had a phone conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during which the two proposed to establish a joint inspection group – Slovakia, Hungary, and the European Commission – to verify the situation regarding the Druzhba oil pipeline.

“We have information that the pipeline is functioning from a technical standpoint. However, the Ukrainian side claims the opposite and continues to postpone delivery deadlines,” he wrote on X, adding that the national interests of his country and that of Hungary "cannot be pushed aside."

Fico on Monday ordered a halt to emergency electricity deliveries to Ukraine over a dispute involving the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies crude oil to Slovakia and Hungary.

Kyiv said oil shipments through the pipeline were disrupted after a Jan. 27 attack, while Budapest and Bratislava accused Ukraine of intentionally blocking the pipeline’s restart to gain political leverage.

After shipments via the pipeline were halted, Hungary and Slovakia decided to suspend diesel fuel supplies to Ukraine in response.