Deputy Speaker of the National Council of Slovakia and Chairman of the Slovak National Party Andrej Danko stated that Bratislava may also ask Ukraine to return the money for the assistance provided.
He said this in a video message titled "Will Ukrainians return our money?".
"If Americans can ask for money, we as a state can also ask for it, since the European Union itself is weak in negotiations," the politician emphasized.
His party spokeswoman Zuzana Škopcová added that this was necessary so that Slovakia "does not pay for the mistakes of the previous government or the selfish decisions of European politicians".
At the end of October 2023, Robert Fico from the pro-Russian “Smer” party became the new Prime Minister of Slovakia. After that, the country reported that it would not provide military assistance to Ukraine. On November 8, the Slovak government did not approve the 14th military aid package to Ukraine for €40.3 million from the previous government.
Trump and Ukrainian minerals
The US President Donald Trump wants Ukraine to return American aid at the expense of its minerals, which the United States needs.
The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought a pilot draft of a minerals agreement to Ukraine on February 12. Washington had hoped that Kyiv would sign it immediately. President Zelensky said that he had banned the agreement from being signed because it would not protect Ukraine’s interests — it had no connection to investments, profits, or security guarantees.
Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement on rare earth metals, but Kyiv needs security guarantees, and they were not in the agreement. Zelensky added: "The document was clear in only one thing — we must give 50% of everything that is listed there."
After refusing to sign the document, Washington made the agreement even tougher, writes the NYT. Now the US demands 100% of revenues from natural resources, including minerals, gas and oil, as well as revenues from ports and other infrastructure.
The draft agreement from the US does not mention any military commitments from the States, writes Axios. The document focuses on the creation of a Reconstruction Investment Fund. Ukraine is to contribute $500 billion to the fund, with Ukraineʼs contribution to be twice as large as the US contribution, but the agreement does not provide that this amount should be paid to the States.
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