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

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.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has threatened to cut financial support for more than 130,000 Ukrainian refugees as a dispute with Ukraine over Russian gas supplies escalates. On 1 January, Kyiv shut off a pipeline that for decades was used to supply Central Europe with Russian natural gas.

Slovakia has alternative gas supplies but Fico, who has ended military aid to Ukraine and sought warmer relations with Moscow, says Slovakia will lose its own transit revenues and pay additional transit fees to bring in non-Russian gas. He has also said European gas and power prices would rise as a result of Ukraine's actions.

Prime Minister Robert Fico said in a video message that his Smer party would consider cutting electricity supplies to Ukraine, adding that a Slovak delegation would discuss the situation in Brussels next Tuesday.

Slovakia's coalition government is considering potential retaliatory actions against Ukraine following that country's decision to halt the transit of Russian gas to Slovakia through its territory.

Angered by Ukraine's transit stoppage for Russian gas, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is threatening to take measures against Ukrainian refugees. Speaking in the capital Bratislava on Thursday,