Francis Tuschek
Bratislava will no longer provide military or financial aid to Kiev, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said, rejecting the Western mantra of โpeace through forceโ and calling for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.
The announcement came in response to a tense meeting at the White House on Friday, where Ukraineโs Vladimir Zelensky, US President Donald Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance were expected to formalize a minerals agreement between Washington and Kiev.
The discussion devolved into a heated exchange when Zelensky insisted that Trump should support Kiev more instead of remaining neutral in order to mediate a ceasefire with Moscow.
Trump cut the meeting short, stating that Zelensky was โnot readyโ for peace. โWeโre looking for peace. Weโre not looking for somebody thatโs going to sign up a strong power and then not make peace because they feel emboldened,โ the US leader told the press afterward.
โSlovakia will not support Ukraine, neither financially nor militarily, to continue the war. If others do so, we will respect it,โ Fico wrote on social media on Saturday.
The Slovak leader criticized Kievโs Western backers for pursuing โpeace through force,โ calling the approach unrealistic and a pretext for prolonging hostilities.
โUkraine will never be strong enough to negotiate from a position of military power,โ he argued.
Slovakia plans to propose an โimmediate ceasefireโ at the upcoming EU summit on March 6, even though the initiative has already been rejected by Zelensky and several EU member states.
Fico also warned that restricting Russian gas supplies harms European industry, calling for the resumption of gas transit through Ukraine to Slovakia and Western Europe.
โGas from east to west is not flowing, but Ukraine is taking European gas instead,โ he said, describing the current situation as โabsurdโ and insisting that EU assistance to Ukraine โcannot be a one-way ticket.โ
While acknowledging the need to strengthen the EUโs defense capabilities, he urged the blocโs leaders to recognize differing views on the conflict. โIf it is not respected at the summit that there are opinions other than continuing the war, the European Council may not be able to agree on conclusions about Ukraine,โ he added.
Since returning to office in 2023, Fico has been a vocal critic of the EUโs stance on the Ukraine conflict. He has halted Slovakiaโs military aid to Kiev, opposed its NATO membership bid, and advocated for immediate peace talks. Fico has also criticized EU sanctions on Russia, arguing that they are ineffective and damaging to Europe, and has urged the West to resume normal dialogue with Moscow.
