Kacer: Slovakia Determined to Help Ukraine, Supports Its NATO Integration

Bratislava/Brussels, October 10 (TASR-correspondent) – Slovakia is determined to continue helping Ukraine, which is exposed to Russian aggression, and supports its NATO integration efforts, Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Rastislav Kacer said following his talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Monday.

“I stressed that our support for Ukraine will remain in place, we won’t accept any annexation, no ridiculous referendums under the barrel of machine guns with the logic of one country occupying another, denying its right to exist,” said Kacer.

The two officials concurred that NATO countries must remain united in their response to the Russian aggression and be able to respond to nuclear threats from Moscow.

Kacer thanked the NATO chief for the presence of allied troops in Slovakia and expressed the hope that these units will rotate and their capacity and capabilities will be increased if necessary.

They also talked about humanitarian support for Ukraine, in the situation when it is evident that Russia is militarily weaker and is compensating for its failures on the battlefield by attacks on civilian targets.

“We assume that the winter will be very difficult for Ukrainians and that Russia will continue to destroy their civilian infrastructure. In this context, we made sure that we will continue providing not only military support, but also humanitarian support,” explained the minister.

Kacer noted that he is visiting the new headquarters of NATO for the first time, although his diplomatic career began with contacts with NATO, in January 1993, when he said as a representative of the Foreign Affairs Ministry at the NATO conference in Warsaw that Slovakia wanted to join the alliance. This happened 11 years later, with Kacer being engaged in the process for the whole time.