The United Nations Refugee Agency said there were just over 130,000 Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia as of December 8.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent visit to Moscow that his country was prepared to broker peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported Thursday.

It seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to open a second energy front against Ukraine. This was stated by the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky.

(Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will discuss the end of Russian gas transit through Ukraine with representatives of the European Commission on Jan. 9 in Brussels, Slovakia's government office said on Tuesday.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander ...

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said that he has offered his country as a meeting place for possible talks on ending the war in Ukraine. "If anyone turns to us and is interested in organizing peace talks in Slovakia about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia,

Hlas-SD, founded by current president Peter Pellegrini, claims that Slovakia will lose hundreds of millions of euros because Ukraine has decided to stop the transit of Russian gas to the EU. It also claims that higher gas prices will inevitably lead to increased inflation and food costs.

The future of gas transit through Ukraine is at a turning point. If a last-minute deal isn’t struck by Wednesday, billions of cubic meters in gas flows could come to a halt.Most Read from BloombergMig

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko also says Kyiv can buy electricity from Romania and Poland if it loses supplies from Bratislava.

Slovakia could take retaliatory measures against Ukraine after Kyiv halted the flow of Russian gas through its territory, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned Thursday.

Austria has insisted it is well prepared for the stoppage, but Slovakia has threatened to cut electricity supplies to neighboring Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky accuses Slovakia's PM of opening a "second energy front" against Ukraine on the orders of Russia. Read more at straitstimes.com.