Slovakia to provide Ukraine with military materiel and stand up NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Slovakia

After today's Cabinet session, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď informed that Slovakia has taken further concrete steps to give aid to Ukraine and protect its eastern border through the stationing of a NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup in SVK territory. He also warned of disinformation and lies spreading in a dangerous and coordinated way.

Slovakia is to provide Ukraine with over €11m worth of military materiel. The aid package includes 10m litres of diesel, 2.4m litres of aviation fuel and 12,000 pieces of 120mm munitions. Jaroslav Naď stressed that Slovakia is sending exactly what Ukraine has requested. “We are putting precise measures in place in order to help Ukraine. A donor conference took place yesterday. As a result, 27 out of the 30 NATO Member States are supporting Ukraine,” he remarked. With its gift, Slovakia exceeds what could be expected of it.

Today, the head of the MOD has also informed that preparations are underway to stand up the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Slovakia (NATO eFP BG SVK), saying: “We are thus joining Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. After consulting with German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht, we have agreed that Germany will make a robust contribution to the NATO eFP BG SVK by setting up the highly sophisticated, modern and effective Patriot Missile Air Defence System in order to protect SVK territory.” As part of Allied cooperation, this means German SBAD systems worth some €600m will be deployed to Slovakia for free.

The minister has also announced that negotiations with the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia have entered their final phase. In addition to this, Slovakia has requested the United States to consider deploying the Sentinel passive sensors in a bid to protect NATO's eastern flank. If so, defence systems worth over a billion euros could be set up in Slovakia free of charge.

In the coming weeks, the minister will submit to the SVK Government and Parliament a request for approval of the presence of approx. 1,200 Allied troops in Slovakia for the purposes of standing up the NATO eFP BG SVK, to safeguard both NATO and SVK territory. 300 SVK military personnel will join the NATO battlegroup to be embedded within SVK Armed Forces Command structures and stationed across the SVK Military Training Areas (MTAs).

Because of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, negotiations are underway to end the operation of Slovakia's Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets and to end the services provided by Russian technicians. “The negotiations are in their final phase, so far I can say that our airspace will be protected by a geographically close ally," he said.

Today, Minister Naď called on citizens not to succumb to lies. Warning of a well-coordinated system of scaring people by SMS messages on the mobilisation of civilians and the penalties for those who fail to register for service, he emphasised: “It is a lie, civilians are not being called up for service as part of the Reserves, let alone as part of conscription. Security agencies will track down and deal with the originators and those who spread such lies.”