Slovak president blocks new military package for Kyiv after anti-Ukrainian party wins elections

Slovak president Zuzana Caputova has opposed the transfer of a new military aid package to Ukraine after an anti-Ukrainian party’s win in the elections late September, Dennik N reported.

Smer-SD, led by Robert Fico, Slovakia’s three-time prime minister, has been a vocal opponent of further military aid to Ukraine, claiming that it is a distraction from dealing with domestic issues.

The Slovak government, currently led by a technocratic prime minister, has already prepared the package of new military assistance to Ukraine. But Ms Caputova, which is responsible for government affairs in between elections, did not greenlight it.

The president's spokesman, Martin Strizinec, explained that she "respected the results of the democratic elections", whose winner, Smer-SD, had promised voters "not to give Ukraine a single ammo".

Ignoring the position of the Smer-SD and "some other" parties "would set an unfortunate precedent for the future", she believes.

In June, Ms Caputova said that she was ‘afraid’ of her country becoming similar to Victor Orban’s Hungary—who has claimed that Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is questionable and opposed arms transfer through Hungarian territory to Ukraine—after the parliamentary elections. 

She has also repeatedly spoken of flourishing pro-Russian sentiment and Russian propaganda in Slovakia.

Slovakia has so far been an important supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion, donating Soviet-era military equipment, serving as a repair base, providing transit and export routes, and supporting its European integration.