During a meeting in Brussels on 14 November, Slovak Defence Minister Robert Kalinak informed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Slovakia would terminate its military aid to Ukraine, the Slovak publication TASR reported.
Minister Kalinak said that while military support from stockpiles will end, Slovakia remains committed to providing Ukraine with a “sufficiently wide” spectrum of humanitarian, civilian, and technical non-lethal assistance.
“Our foreign partners fully respect the decision of the new government,” the minister claimed.
The focus is now reportedly on bolstering the capacities and capabilities of the Slovak armed forces to ensure the security of the Slovak state and its people. This includes a modernization process aimed at minimizing risks to soldiers’ lives, according to Kalinak.
Slovakia’s decision to halt the military aid for Ukraine came after newly-elected Pro-Russian Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico took office last month. However, PM Fico assured that the termination of the military aid concerns only the supplies of weapons and ammunition from Slovak army storage, and there would be no interference with private defense exports for Kyiv.
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