KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine will not extend its gas transit agreement with Russia after it expires at the end of 2024, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Monday.
The two held talks in Uzhhorod in western Ukraine and, according to a Ukrainian official, were focused on infrastructure cooperation, energy security and support for Kyiv's peace plan.
"Ukraine once again says it will not continue the transit agreement with Russia after it expires," Shmyhal told a news conference sitting alongside Fico.
"Ukraine's strategic goal is to deprive the Kremlin of profits from the sale of hydrocarbons which the aggressor uses to finance the war."
Slovakia, a member of NATO and the EU which shares a border with Ukraine, opposes Kyiv's accession to NATO, but has a strong interest in maintaining the transit of oil and gas from Russia to the west via Ukraine.
Slovak state-owned gas buyer SPP said this month it was continuing negotiations to secure an extension of gas transit through Ukraine after Kyiv's contract with Russian supplier Gazprom expires at the end of the year.
Shmyhal said that Kyiv understands the "acute dependence" of some states, including Slovakia on the Russian gas supply, but is counting on gradual diversification of delivery.
Ukraine's prime minister also said the two countries had agreed on the creation of an Eastern European energy hub, which aims to utilise large Ukrainian gas storage facilities.
BIG CRITIC
Fico has been a big critic of Western military aid to Ukraine, along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and has made a big show of halting government-sponsored military aid to Ukraine while allowing commercial supplies to continue.
He reiterated his view that there was no military solution to the Ukrainian-Russian war.
"Peace must be sustainable, you have to have security guarantees. Above all, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine must be respected. We understand all that," Fico said.
He said the talks with Ukraine's government confirmed that Kyiv remained interested in using its gas and oil transit systems after the deal with Russia expires.
"I welcome our discussion which confirmed that you, like us, have an interest in the transit system you have on Ukrainian territory continuing to be used, when it comes to both oil and gas," Fico added.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko, Pavel Polityuk, Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Editing by Gareth Jones and Ed Osmond)
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