Ukraine “respects the choice of the Slovak people”, said the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmitro Kuleba, on Monday, after the victory in the legislative elections in Slovakia of the populist party Smer-SD, the formation of former prime minister Robert Fico, which opposes military aid to Kiev, reports AFP and Agerpres .
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro KulebaPhoto: Olivier Matthys / AP – The Associated Press / Profimedia
“We respect the choice of the Slovak people, but it is too early to say how the result of these elections will affect Slovakia’s position,” said Kuleba, on the sidelines of a meeting of European foreign ministers in Kiev.
“We have to wait for the formation of the coalition and then, considering its composition, we will draw the first conclusions”, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy also said, given that the Smer-SD party only obtained 23% of the votes in Saturday’s election.
The social-democratic formation Smer-SD, led by former prime minister Robert Fico, intends to stop military aid to Ukraine and criticizes the European Union and NATO.
During the election campaign, Fico, 59, promised that Slovakia would not send any ammunition to Kiev and called for better relations with Russia.
The centre-right governments that ruled Slovakia after Russia went to war against Ukraine have unreservedly backed Kiev with arms and ammunition, supplying the Ukrainian military with the entire Slovak fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets, the only S-300 anti-aircraft system that seems to- Slovakia had it, 16 Zuzanna-2 howitzers, 30 BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, plus other weapons and substantial amounts of ammunition.
