Slovakia is halting arms deliveries to Ukraine

WARSAW, POLAND>> Slovakia, a small Eastern European nation that has been in the vanguard of sending arms to Ukraine, says it is halting all military aid to its embattled neighbor, a policy shift that is unlikely to change the balance of forces on the battlefield but that delivers a symbolic blow to Ukraine at a time of growing fatigue in parts of Europe after 20 months of war.

Slovakia’s newly appointed prime minister, Robert Fico, announced Thursday in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, that while he supported “comprehensive” nonmilitary aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, “I will be supporting zero military aid to Ukraine.”

That would make Slovakia the first among those countries that have sent weapons to Ukraine since the war broke out to say it would stop. Slovakia’s commercial defense contracts with Ukraine for Slovak-made artillery and other defense systems, however, are expected to continue.

Fico, who made his remarks to a parliamentary committee on European Union affairs, did not say whether Slovakia, which shares a border with Ukraine and has rail and road links to the country, would continue to serve as a transit route for weapons supplied by other Western countries. Poland has been themain transit country for such shipments, but Slovakia has also been used to deliver weapons from the Czech Republic and some other countries.

Fico, who later visited Brussels on Thursday for a summit of European leaders, declined to speak to journalists. Ukrainian officials did not immediately make any public comments about his announcement.

But Fico’s remarks stirred outrage among some of Slovakia’s fellow EU members that have been firmin their support for Ukraine.

In Lithuania, a Baltic country that has been one of Ukraine’s most stalwart backers, the chair of the national security and defense committee in parliament, Laurynas Kasciunas, said, “This decision may not have a practical impact on the ongoing conflict, but it poisons the unity of the Western nations striving to support Ukraine.”

He urged Slovakia not to obstruct the transit of other countries’ weapons to Ukraine, saying in a statement that any restrictions through Slovak territory would risk “severe consequences for Slovakia itself within NATO and the EU.”

Fico, a pugnacious former prime minister, eked out a narrow victory in general elections lastmonth after campaigning on a promise “not to send a single cartridge” of ammunition to Ukraine. His Smer party, which started out on the left but increasingly embraced right-wing views on immigration and cultural issues, aligned with pro-russian forces during the campaign, largely in response to the exuberantly pro-ukrainian positions of his political rivals.

Slovakia was the first country to send air- defense systems to Ukraine under a previous government led by Fico’s liberal and centrist opponents, and it led the way, along with Poland, in pushing for greater western military assistance. But with its stock of dispensable weapons and warplanes largely depleted by deliveries to Ukraine, Slovakia has little left to give.

Moscow, which usually crows over any sign of waning support for Ukraine, responded with uncharacteristic restraint to Fico’s pledge. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, said Slovakia’s share of arms supplies to Ukraine was “not really that big, and, therefore, this decision will barely affect the whole process.”

Slovakia sent S-300 airdefense missiles and some Soviet- era fighter jets to Ukraine last year, at a time when others were still debating what to do. But these deliveries have been dwarfed since by what the United States and other countries have sent.

More important, from Moscow’s perspective, is whether Slovakia might join Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, to block EU sanctions against Russia reaking ranks with other leaders in the bloc, Orban met this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin in China. But wary of standing alone against bigger, more powerful European countries, Orban has mostly gone along with European sanctions despite having the power to veto them and a taste for bombastic denunciations of the bloc’s policies.

In his meeting Thursday with the parliamentary committee, Fico indicated he would not support a proposed new round of sanctions, which are backed strongly by Baltic nations, and would oppose anything “that will harmus.” Support for new sanctions, however, is already weak in many other countries, too.