Slovak PM Fico arrives in Uzhhorod to meet with Ukrainian counterpart Shmyhal

“Our bilateral relations and support for European initiatives are on the agenda,” Shmyhal said, noting that Ukraine looks forward to a constructive and practical dialogue.

The meeting’s original aim was to discuss Bratislava’s stated opposition to EU’s EUR 50 billion ($54.3 billion) aid package for Ukraine, Shmyhal said in a Telegram post on Jan. 18.

After a recent meeting with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, Fico said that he supported Hungary’s opposition to further EU financial assistance to Kyiv and its NATO membership.

Seemingly forgetting what happened when Nazi Germany carved up Czechoslovakia in 1938, Slovak Prime Minister said Ukraine “must give up” part of its territory to Russia in order to end the war, Fico said on Slovak public broadcaster RTVS on Jan. 20.

“There must be some compromise,” said Fico.  “What are they waiting for, the Russians to leave Crimea, Donbas, and Luhansk? That’s unrealistic.”

There can be no compromise regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Oleh Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, wrote on Facebook on Jan. 22, commenting the statement of Slovak PM.

“There can be no compromise on territorial integrity. Neither Ukraine, nor Slovakia, nor any other country,” stated Nikolenko.

Ukraine and its partners are making efforts to push the Russians out of the occupied territory of Ukraine so that they “do not go further, including to Kosice, Presov, and other Slovak regions.”

Following latest Russia’s missile attack on Kyiv on Jan. 23, Fico cynically stated that life in the Ukrainian capital was “absolutely normal,” according to Reuters.