Slovakia has expressed outrage over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's remarks that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has opened a "second energy front" with his threats to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia is open to a Slovakian proposal to host peace talks with Ukraine to end a conflict he said Russia was determined to bring to a conclusion.

Zelensky said this was "the only possible meaning" of Fico's threats to cut off Ukraine's emergency power supply in the winter, given Russian attacks on power plants and the distribution network.