The Prime Minister of Ukraine spoke about the results of negotiations with Fico

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, following negotiations with his Slovak colleague Robert Fico, said that Slovakia will not block the allocation of 50 billion euros to Ukraine from the European Union, as well as the purchase of weapons by Kiev from local businesses. Shmyhal reported this on his TV channel.

He also stated that Ukraine intends to form mutually beneficial relations with the government of Slovakia. Shmyhal expressed confidence that the meeting with Fico “will open a new page” in the relations between the two countries.

“Despite our differences, we intend to form a policy of “new pragmatism” with the government of Slovakia, which will benefit both states,” the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty reports the words of the Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Following the meeting, Shmyhal and Fico signed a joint statement, in which, in particular, support for Slovakia’s European integration of Ukraine is noted, support for the “peace formula” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expressed, and the importance of Slovakia’s participation in demining and reconstruction of Ukraine is also noted.

The meeting of the Prime Ministers of Ukraine and Slovakia took place on January 24 in Uzhhorod. The day before, Fitso, answering a journalist’s question about whether it would be more appropriate to go to Kyiv to better understand Russia’s war against Ukraine, said that there is “absolutely normal” life and no war in the Ukrainian capital. As Reuters notes, he made this statement a few hours after Kyiv came under fire.

On January 16, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, announced that he had secured the support of the head of the government of Slovakia, Robert Fico, on the issue of financial assistance to Ukraine. Orban opposes the allocation of 50 billion euros to Ukraine over four years directly from the EU budget. According to him, EU countries should allocate funds from their own budgets to support Ukraine in proportion to their GDP.

Fico then said that Slovakia would support the proposals that Hungary will present at the EU summit on February 1, although he did not directly say that he would block the allocation of 50 billion from the EU budget if the vote on this issue did come.