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 had been the main entry point and the country now stands to lose millions of euros in transit fees.

The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) estimated last month that there were 130,530 Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia out of 6,813,900 globally.

Fico - who in December made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin - described Kyiv’s move as “sabotage”.