KYIV: Ukraine has rejected suggestions by Slovakia’s new Prime Minister Robert Fico that it should cede territory to Russia to end the war.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko wrote on Facebook that there can be no compromise on territorial integrity, neither for Ukraine, nor for Slovakia, nor for any other nation.
Let’s be honest, if Ukraine is not secure, there will be no security, neither in Slovakia nor in Europe in general, he said.
In a talk with Slovak radio, Fico directly challenged that idea, and the core position of most of his partners in the European Union (EU), according to AFP.
Speaking just days ahead of a scheduled trip to Ukraine, Fico told the public broadcaster both Ukraine and Russia would need to make painful compromises to bring the fighting to an end. For Kyiv, that meant accepting at least some of Moscow’s gains.
Fico asked that what are they expecting? That Russia will leave Luhansk and Donbas? Or that they will leave Crimea? No, that is completely unrealistic. Everybody knows that.
Russia’s advanced moves
The Luhansk and Donbas are territories in eastern Ukraine, over parts of which Moscow gained control in 2014, and from where it has expanded its territorial gains since starting its full-scale invasion in 2022. Crimea was also annexed in 2014.
Widely seen as a pro-Kremlin figure, Fico won election in October 2023, having run on a promise that he would block further military support for Kyiv – which he said had been under the total control of the US since 2014, when Ukrainians overthrew their pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovich.
In the EU, he is closely aligned with Victor Orban of Hungary and has been very open about his intentions to block Ukraine’s bid to join the NATO and EU. That blunt message would be repeated when he meets his Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal, on Wednesday in the border town of Uzhhorod, he said.
