Slovakia announced that it will stop military and financial aid to Ukraine.
“Slovakia will not support Ukraine either financially or militarily to enable it to continue the war. If others choose to do so, we will respect that,” Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an open letter on X.
Fico said that Slovakia has reservations a bout the "peace through strength," adding: “Ukraine will never be strong enough to negotiate from a position of military power.”
“For the conclusions of the EU summit (Thursday, March 6, 2025), Slovakia proposes, among other things, the necessity of an immediate ceasefire (regardless of the moment a final peace agreement is reached), which President Zelenskyy and a large number of EU member states reject,” he added.
Fico said that his country demands that the summit’s conclusions “explicitly include a requirement to reopen the transit of gas through Ukraine to Slovakia and Western Europe.”
“It is impossible to ensure Europe’s competitiveness if the supply of Russian gas through Ukraine is not restored,” he said.
“If the summit does not respect that there are other opinions besides simply continuing the war, the European Council may not be able to agree on conclusions regarding Ukraine on Thursday,” Fico added.
President Donald Trump appears not to be interested in backing Ukraine’s military and economy like the previous US administration. Can Zelensky resist pressure from both the US and Russia at the same time?
Heated discussion at White House
Fico’s remarks came a day after a heated exchange between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, United States President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the Oval Office.
During the exchange, Trump criticised the Ukrainian leader's attitude, while Zelenskyy expressed his expectation of support for his country.
Later, Trump argued on his Truth Social account that Zelenskyy was not yet ready for peace.
In an interview with Fox News, Zelenskyy responded to a question whether he would apologise to Trump, saying that he had done nothing wrong that would require him to apologise.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demands that the West should defend its territorial integrity by making it a NATO member, but the Trump administration has other ideas.
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