Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has criticized the EU’s attempts to mediate in the Ukraine conflict, accusing the bloc of exacerbating the situation and wasting three years without achieving a ceasefire. He urged the EU to take responsibility for its exclusion from recent US-Russia peace talks and stop complaining.
Fico, a vocal critic of Western policies on Ukraine, has consistently challenged the EU’s approach. He survived a May 2024 assassination attempt by a pro-Ukraine activist. In a recent address, he condemned what he described as three years of strategic errors by EU leaders. He argued that Western military and financial aid to Ukraine has only prolonged the conflict without achieving meaningful progress.
“Except for Slovakia and Hungary, the European Union backed the war in Ukraine for three years, ignoring our objections that the strategy of using the conflict to weaken Russia is ineffective,” Fico stated. He added that the EU failed to acknowledge the impossibility “of winning a conventional war against Russia.”
Fico further accused Brussels of pursuing an unrealistic strategy that has weakened Ukraine and sidelined the EU from peace efforts.
The recent high-level Russia-US talks in Riyadh, focusing on restoring relations and addressing the Ukraine conflict, have caused frustration within the EU. Member states criticized Washington for excluding Brussels and Kyiv. “We are concerned about being left out of US-Russia peace talks. We should stop complaining,” Fico said. “We need a proper EU summit, and some frank discussion.”
Fico dismissed EU peacemaking efforts as hypocritical, noting the same leaders who previously rejected ceasefires are now vying for relevance as US-Russia negotiations progress.
He claimed that the EU’s response to concerns about “tens of thousands of unnecessary Russian and Ukrainian deaths” has been to insist that Ukraine can only negotiate from a position of strength. “But peace has been negotiated when Ukraine was much weaker,” Fico countered. “Now, with new US peace initiatives, Europe is trying to position itself as a peacemaker.”
Since taking office in 2023, Fico has opposed EU military support for Ukraine, halting Slovakian aid to Kyiv, advocating for peace talks, and opposing Ukraine’s NATO membership.