Slovakian newspaper TASR reported on May 24 that lawmakers in the Slovakian ruling coalition will step up demands for Kiev to compensate for military and financial aid that Bratislava has provided during the conflict in Ukraine.
Zuzana Scopova, chief of parliamentary staff, said that the leader of the Slovakian National Party (SNS), Andrej Danko, will be the one to call on Prime Minister Robert Fico to urge the European Union (EU) to consider the interests of the bloc in Ukraine's mining sector.
Ms. Scopova believes that if Ukraine hands over all its mineral resources to the US, there will be nothing left to repay the debt to Europe, while the level of aid to Kiev from Brussels is no less than that of Washington.
On May 27, Mr. Danko is expected to ask Slovakian Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky to summarize all the military and financial aid that Bratislava has provided to Kiev since the conflict began.
The SNS wants to demand more than €3 billion ($3.41 billion) in compensation from Ukraine - the same amount as the US is aiming for.
In early May, Washington - Kiev's largest military sponsor - signed an important mineral deal with Ukraine, allowing the US to prioritize access to Ukraine's mineral resources. President Donald Trump affirmed that this deal is a way for the US to recover hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that has been spent on Ukraine.
According to Germany's Kiev Institute, the US has allocated about $135 billion in aid to Ukraine since the conflict escalated in 2022. Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) said the EU has provided about 158 billion USD in support over the past 3 years.
The EU also signed a deal with Ukraine on raw materials in 2021, RT reported. At the time, the European Parliament Research Group (EP) noted that the deal allowed the EU to claim rights in Ukraine's mining sector, similar to the US.
