Slovak president calls for continued military aid for Ukraine amid new govt’s uncertainty

Slovak president Zuzana Caputova on Thursday said that military assistance to Kyiv should continue as negotiations on a new government, led by Smer-SD, an anti-Ukrainian party led by Slovak former prime minister Robert Fico, continue.

Earlier this week, Ms Caputova opposed the transfer of a new military aid package to Ukraine as a sign of respect for the "results of the democratic elections", whose winner, Smer-SD, had promised voters "not to give Ukraine a single ammo".

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Slovak president stressed that military aid to Ukraine should continue.

"I respect the parliamentary election outcome and the negative view on this in the party leading the coalition talks," she reiterated.

"But any Slovak administration should see that this is as much about Ukraine’s security as about Slovakia’s own."

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.