Peace Ukraine will hand over a letter to V. Zelensky. M. Kulich: Not all Slovaks agree with Fico
15:05 According to information on the website of the Office of the President of Ukraine, after the meeting with Costa and before the negotiations with Fico, Zelensky also received Swedish Foreign Minister Mária Malmer Stenergárdová for a visit. He thanked the Swedish people, government and prime minister for their support for Ukraine from the very beginning of the full-fledged Russian invasion."We are very grateful for the four billion dollars of defense support this year. This is really very significant help. The prime minister also told me that you will be among those leaders who decided to provide security guarantees to Ukraine. We appreciate it very much, thank you," said Zelensky.
14:17 The meeting between the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico, and the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has begun.
13:56 The Slovak delegation has already crossed the state border, the Government Office reported on the social network."Prime Minister Robert Fico and European Council President Antonio Costa met today at the border crossing towards Ukraine. Prime Minister Fico also informed Costa about his recent visit to China, from which he had just returned. The two leaders also briefly discussed the current situation in the region," the post states.
Fico met with Costa at the border
13:44 Czech journalist and political scientist Jiří Just, living in Moscow, spoke on the ta3 broadcast about how Russia perceives today's meeting between the Slovak Prime Minister and the Ukrainian President. According to him, Moscow may be counting on Robert Fico to convince Zelensky to stop the Ukrainian army from attacking the Druzhba oil pipeline.
13:38 According to information from the AFP agency, Zelensky plans to raise the issue of Russian oil imports to Europe in negotiations with the Slovak prime minister. The European Union (EU) has banned most oil imports from Russia in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but Slovakia and Hungary have been exempted from the ban to give them time to find alternative oil supplies.
This has led to friction between Bratislava and Kiev. Ukraine has been targeting the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian oil to both EU countries, during the conflict."America wants to seriously reduce Russia's energy export revenues, this is the right way," Zelensky said in a video call at an economic forum in Italy."We will discuss this issue (with Fico) as well," he added.
13:20 The meeting of the two leaders will take place under strict security measures. They also include an information embargo. It is not known where and when exactly the prime minister will meet with the president, and the media will not be able to broadcast the press conference after the meeting in real time. Before entering the bus that will take them to the press conference, journalists underwent a thorough security check of their luggage, equipment and personal belongings. Before entering the bus that will take them to the press conference, journalists underwent a thorough security check of their luggage, equipment and personal belongings. They must leave their mobile phones on the bus.
Security forces control the park and square in Uzhhorod
13:08 The Ukrainian president will likely discuss the gradual termination of Russian oil supplies at a meeting with the prime minister. This was reported by Reuters, citing statements by Ukrainian Deputy Energy Minister Roman Andarak. The Ukrainian official, arriving at informal talks of EU energy ministers in Copenhagen, also said that Ukraine can offer Slovakia other solutions and that there is infrastructure for transporting fuel from directions other than Russia.
12:42 European Council President António Costa is in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, where the Slovak-Ukrainian summit is being planned. He arrived at the invitation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Yesterday, 26 countries and the EU gave Ukraine concrete security commitments. We are ready for that day. But for that day to come, we must push Putin to the negotiating table," Costa wrote on the X network.
Happy to be in Uzhhorod at the invitation of President @ZelenskyyUa
— António Costa (@eucopresident) September 5, 2025
Yesterday, 26 countries and the EU provided concrete security commitments to Ukraine. We are ready for the day after. But for that day to come, we must push Putin to the negotiating table. https://t.co/dWVXui97gm
12:00 "Those who have not yet believed Russian propaganda know that Ukraine is fighting, people are dying here. The oil and gas we buy pays Russia for this murder. Russia poses as a global power, but so far it has only proven that it is a terrorist state and is committing terror against the civilian population," Marián Kulich from Peace Ukraine told Pravda in Uzhhorod.
According to him, the initiative disagrees with what the Slovak Prime Minister is doing in global politics and is siding with the attacker."That's why we delivered a letter to the president. We declare that we stand behind Ukraine, we will stand by Ukraine until its victorious end," he said.
As he explained, the appeal was launched at the last minute. In the course of two days, 22,000 people signed it."It was mainly signed by personalities whom we have directly documented in this letter, and Volodymyr Zelensky will receive a list of all signatories who signed it," he specified. According to Kulich, Zelensky should already have the letter."Our effort was for him to receive this appeal before he meets with Robert Fico," he continued.
11:35 A government special plane carrying Minister of Economy Denisa Sakova (Hlas) and Head of the Department of Diplomacy Juraj Blanár (Smer) landed in Košice, according to information from the FlightRadar service. Together with Prime Minister Fico, they will travel to Uzhhorod for negotiations.
10:55 Ukrainian media almost did not cover the topic of Zelensky's negotiations with Fico on Friday morning. On regional portals of the Transcarpathian region, in which Uzhhorod is located, the main news is the intervention of police officers who prevented a tragedy at the school. In the village of Buštín (126 km from Uzhhorod, editor's note), a 15-year-old student was planning an attack with a knife. Police arrested him as he tried to enter the school with a knife in his backpack. At that time, the boy was already broadcasting live on one of the streaming platforms.
The city media outlet Uzhhorod Live on Telegram reports that due to the arrival of foreign delegations in the region, queues and delays on the roads are possible.
10:30 The Peace for Ukraine Initiative is preparing a letter for the President of Ukraine, which it wants to hand over to him before the meeting with Fico. By Thursday evening, 20,000 people had signed it. The letter is intended to convey to Zelensky that Slovakia stands with Europe and Ukraine, not with the interests of the Kremlin. The public appeal entitled Robert Fico is not Slovakia, Slovakia is Europe! expresses support for the Ukrainian people. According to the organizers, the goal is to make it clear that Prime Minister Fico is not Slovakia and does not represent everyone.
"Slovak men and women know who is the aggressor and who is defending themselves. We know that freedom and peace cannot be negotiated with a dictator. We know that Russia is waging war not only against Ukraine, but also against all of Europe, including us. The words you wrote, Mr. President -"Bratislava is not Moscow, Slovakia is Europe" - have become our slogan, reality and commitment that we want to defend," the letter states.
10:15 Fico will also meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in Uzhhorod. His delegation will also include Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Denisa Saková (Hlas) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Juraj Blanár (Smer). Only journalists who had been accredited in advance were allowed to attend the press conference.
10:00 The Press Department of the Government Office of the Slovak Republic reported on Thursday that Fico will travel to Uzhhorod on Friday to meet with Zelensky. One of the main topics of the bilateral meeting will be energy infrastructure. The Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic and the President of Ukraine will inform about the conclusions of the meeting at a joint press conference.
9:05 At exactly nine o'clock, a radio broadcast in Uzhhorod announced a minute of silence for the victims of the war with Russia. People stopped on the sidewalks. This is a daily ritual that was introduced in the country on March 16, 2022, a few weeks after the start of the Russian military invasion. It applies to the entire territory of Ukraine. The time of 9:00 for the minute of silence was not chosen by chance: it is based on military tradition. In the military environment, the minute of silence was a customary ritual, and the start-ups often began at exactly nine o'clock.
9:00 Of the three highest constitutional officials, neither Fico, nor President Peter Pellegrini, nor the head of parliament Richard Raši (Hlas) met with Zelensky at the highest level. Since the change of government in autumn 2023, not a single official visit to Kiev has taken place from Slovakia. Instead of coalition politicians, Zelensky received a delegation of representatives of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) in January of this year. This happened just a few weeks after Fico traveled to Moscow to see Putin.
8:55 The Slovak government special plane landed at the airport in Košice just after midnight. Fico flew here from the celebrations of the end of World War II in China, where, in addition to President Xi Jinping, he held talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for more than an hour.
The Smer leader is said to be carrying a message from Putin to the Ukrainian president. During the broadcast of their debate, the Slovak prime minister sent a message through the media that he would confront Zelensky with the attacks on the Russian Druzhba oil pipeline. Fico's meeting with Putin in Beijing was their third in the last nine months. In February 2022, Putin launched a large-scale unprovoked military invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
8:50 Late Thursday evening, a relatively large convoy of police cars and motorbikes left Košice Airport with several other cars. One of them was Ukrainian President Zelensky, who had flown in from the French capital Paris. He was here to negotiate with leaders of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, which promised security guarantees to post-war Ukraine.
