Lawmakers in Bratislava will reportedly push to demand that the aid provided to Kiev be recouped through a minerals deal
Lawmakers in Slovakia’s ruling coalition will push to demand compensation from Ukraine for the military and financial aid Bratislava has provided to it over the course of the conflict with Russia, according to state news agency TASR.
Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko will call on Prime Minister Robert Fico to begin EU proceedings regarding the bloc’s stake in Ukrainian mineral production, following the example of the US, the head of the lawmaker’s office, Zuzana Skopcova, told TASR on Saturday.
Washington, Kiev’s biggest military donor, signed a minerals agreement with it last month, giving the US preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth. US President Donald Trump touted the deal as a way for the US to reclaim the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid spent on supporting Ukraine. Deputy Economy Minister Taras Kachka has since described the preceding negotiations with the US as something from a “mafia movie.”
“The European Union’s aid is approaching the volume of US aid. If Ukraine hands over all its mineral wealth to the US, Ukraine will have nothing to repay the aid given by European states,” Skopcova told TASR on Saturday. It was illogical and unethical of the US to demand exclusive mining rights, Skopcova said, according to TASR.
If Ukraine has already decided to pay for aid during the conflict with the Russian Federation, it is incomprehensible why it does not do so in relation to the EU.
On Monday, Danko plans to ask Slovak Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky to tally up the sum of all financial and military assistance Bratislava provided to Kiev during the Ukraine conflict, TASR wrote. The SNS wants more than €3 billion ($3.41 billion) in aid compensated in a similar manner as the US has sought, the news agency said.
Under Fico, a critic of EU policy regarding the Ukraine conflict, Bratislava has cut military assistance to Kiev. Last May, he survived an assassination attempt after being shot multiple times by a pro-Ukraine activist.
The US has allocated around $135 billion to aid Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict in 2022, data from Germany’s Kiev Institute indicates. By comparison, the EU has sent around $158 billion in total military and financial aid to Kiev over the past three years, according to the European Commission.
Brussels signed an agreement regarding raw materials with Ukraine in 2021. The European Parliament Think Tank has said the document gives the EU a stake in Ukraine’s mineral wealth, like the US.
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