During her working visit to the Slovak Republic, the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk met with Speaker of the National Council of Slovakia Boris Kollar.
At the beginning of the meeting, Olena Kondratiuk expressed her sincere gratitude to Slovakia for the comprehensive military, humanitarian and political support provided to our country since the first days of russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Slovakia, in particular, has provided military assistance to Ukraine for 10% of its defence budget and is among the top ten countries in the world in this regard. We are grateful for the air defence systems, MiG-29 aircraft, armoured personnel carriers, and self-propelled artillery systems that were among the first to be provided,” said Olena Kondratiuk.
In response, Boris Kollar said that on the second day after russia’s large-scale aggression, he and the Deputy Speaker were at the Ukrainian-Slovak border and helped to resolve the issue of receiving internally displaced Ukrainians. Members of the Slovak Parliament also took in Ukrainian families.
The interlocutors also discussed Ukraine’s accession to the EU and Ukraine’s full membership in the Union.
“I expressed my gratitude to Slovakia for supporting our candidacy and accelerated membership. Boris Kollar stressed that Slovakia would welcome Ukraine as a full member of the European Union if all accession conditions are met,” the Vice Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament emphasised.
On behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, she also thanked the National Council of Slovakia for its strong political support of the Ukrainian people: “The Slovak Parliament has taken a clear position by adopting resolutions condemning russian aggression and recognising the russian regime as a terrorist one, and russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. The National Council also supports the establishment of a special international tribunal for the crime of russian aggression against Ukraine and condemns russia’s nuclear blackmail.
“I am sincerely grateful for the resolution adopted on 28 March in defence of the Ukrainian children abducted by russia and forcibly deported, demanding their immediate return home,” Olena Kondratiuk raised another important topic for Ukraine during the meeting.
For his part, the Speaker of the National Council, Boris Kollar, noted that the issue of restoring the rights of deported Ukrainian children is particularly important for the Slovak Parliament. He also assured the Vice Speaker that Slovakia is ready to take a very active part in the post-war recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine.