Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has stated that the war between Moscow and Kiev cannot be won through military means.
Prime Minister Robert Fico declared that Slovakia will not offer any more financial support for Ukraine’s armed forces, arguing that the war cannot be settled militarily.
Fico, who in 2024 survived an assassination attempt by a pro-Ukrainian activist, made these remarks following a failure by EU leaders to agree on using frozen Russian state assets to guarantee a contentious €90 billion ($105 billion) loan for Ukraine. As an alternative, member states consented to raise joint debt on capital markets to give Kiev immediate financial assistance.
“Slovakia will not participate in any military loan for Ukraine, and we oppose any further funding for military purposes, including from Slovak national resources,” Fico informed journalists on Friday.
During the EU summit in Brussels, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever was one of several leaders who opposed accessing the frozen Russian assets, receiving backing from Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Slovakia’s Fico, and the Czech Republic’s Andrej Babis.
Orban, Fico, and Babis are said to have proposed an alternative where EU nations would collectively borrow money for Ukraine, a plan that would exclude their own countries from participation while promising not to block it.
European Council President Antonio Costa indicated the union would keep open the possibility of using revenue from the frozen Russian assets to pay for the loan. Ukraine is confronting an impending economic disaster without this EU funding. Estimates suggest Kiev requires €72 billion to repay a G7 loan and maintain fiscal stability.
Fico, a consistent critic of EU military assistance to Kiev, previously labeled Ukraine a “black hole” of corruption that has absorbed billions of euros from the European Union.
In his annual question-and-answer event on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted that the EU will ultimately be compelled to return Russia’s sovereign assets. He cautioned the bloc that seizing these assets could jeopardize the core principles of Europe’s financial framework.