Ukraine says too early to judge impact of Slovak election

"Ukraine respects the choice that the people of Slovakia made," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv. "I think it's too early to judge how these elections will impact the support of Ukraine.

Ukraine's foreign minister said on Monday it was too early to assess the impact on Ukraine from the victory of a pro-Russian candidate in Slovakia's parliamentary election.

Robert Fico, whose SMER-SSD party won Saturday's vote, was set to begin coalition talks

on forming a government widely considered likely to join Hungary in opposing the European Union's military aid for Ukraine. "Ukraine respects the choice that the people of Slovakia made," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv.

"I think it's too early to judge how these elections will impact the support of Ukraine. We have to wait until the coalition is formed," he told reporters before greeting EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Slovakia is a member of the NATO military alliance, which is backing Ukraine against Russia's 19-month-old invasion, but many of its people are sympathetic to Moscow's line that the West wants to annihilate it.

Fico, whose election campaign included a call of "Not a single round" for Ukraine, told a press conference on Sunday: "We are prepared to help with the reconstruction of the state, but you know our opinion on arming Ukraine."