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ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE: Slovakians Are Chipping in to Help Ukraine ... Against their Own Govt. [1]

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Date: 2025-03-08

If one only listens to the recent heated exchange of words between President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of neighboring Slovakia, you would think that most people in Slovakia are just as disdainful of Ukraine as the leader of their government. Firmly in Russia’s camp, just like Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Fico recently said this about Zelenskyy:

"He [Zelenskyy] goes around Europe just begging and blackmailing others, asking for money. It just has to stop." www.yahoo.com/...

To which Zelenskyy, never one to back down, retorted:

"It’s good that Slovakia’s Prime Minister Fico has finally returned from his vacation at a luxurious hotel in Vietnam and is now in Bratislava. For him, personally, it must be challenging – switching from living in luxury to now trying to fix his own mistakes." Zelenskyy criticised the Slovak Prime Minister's reliance on "shadow schemes" in cooperation with Russia, calling it an obvious mistake. "We offered our assistance to the people of Slovakia during their adaptation to the absence of Russian gas transit, but Fico arrogantly refused. Many in Europe warned him that doing nothing and waiting was not an option. Now, he’s resorting to PR, lies and loud accusations to shift the blame away from himself onto someone else. But the real problem is that he bet on Moscow, not on his own country, not on a united Europe and certainly not on common sense. From the beginning, it was a losing bet." www.yahoo.com/...

Fico is indeed in political trouble in his country as his dalliance with Moscow has caused him to be less and less in touch with the actual zeitgeist in his country vis a vis Ukraine as well as his failures in attending to the day-to-day problems facing the people. Seemingly everyday brings out thousands and thousands of demonstrators all over the country decrying the government’s increasing tilt towards Moscow away from the EU and against Ukraine. It’s an eerie replay of what in 2014 lead to the Maidan uprising in Kyiv which forced out Putin’s puppet Viktor Yanokovych ... the proximate cause of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Slovaks protest for second time in two weeks against PM Fico Tens of thousands of Slovaks returned to a central square in the capital on Friday for the second large protest in two weeks, opposing what they see as a policy shift by Prime Minister Robert Fico aimed at moving closer to Russia. Protesters also gathered in dozens of other cities and towns across the central European nation. They called for Fico to resign with chants of "Resign, resign" and "Russian agent".

They are not only voicing their displeasure against their government’s pro-Putin anti-Ukraine stance, they are literally and figuratively putting their money where their mouth is:

Slovak citizens frustrated with their Prime Minister Robert Fico have raised over €5 million to send ammunition to Ukraine The fundraising effort is managed by the Slovak civic campaign Ammunition for Ukraine. The campaign’s slogan is “If not the government, then we will send it”, and it was launched in April 2024 after Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that Slovakia would not provide military aid to Ukraine. As of January, Slovaks had managed to raise 4.7 million euros. Later, the Peace for Ukraine association announced an additional fundraising initiative for shells, collecting an extra 600,000 euros. As a result, the total amount raised exceeded 5 million euros. This is not the first time Slovaks have raised funds for ammunition for Ukraine. On October 7, 2024, 122 tons of ammunition were delivered to Ukraine, funded by over 4 million euros contributed by Slovak citizens. Additionally, another 500,000 euros will be used to purchase rounds for grenade launchers. www.reuters.com/...

This is all quite impressive for people in country that is below the average in EU per capita income and facing some serious downward socio-economic trends to crowd fund that kind of cash, over $5.5 million, in such a short period of time…. against the wishes of their own government, to boot.

ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE. As a grateful and happy President Zelenskyy said a few days ago in Brussels to the leaders of Europe … “ We know we're not alone”.

Ukraine and Europe Will Stand.

SLAVA UKRAINI !

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