Slovakia will donate humanitarian aid to Ukraine totaling €203,492, which will include power generators and heaters, the Slovak Ministry of the Interior reports.
“Based on Ukraine’s request for humanitarian aid, as well as the European Commission’s call for member states to show solidarity with the civilian population affected by the military conflict, the Slovak Republic will provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine totaling €203,492,” the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement published on its website.
The cargo of humanitarian aid will weigh 21 tons and will include power generators, heaters, clothing and first aid kits from the stocks of the Headquarters of the Ecumenical Pastoral Service in the Armed Forces of Slovakia and the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, as well as food, bottled water and clothing from the stocks of the Slovak Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It is noted that the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the regional enterprise Donetskteplocomunenergo, and the city council of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, will receive the aid.
According to information received by Ukrainian border guards on the evening of December 14, representatives of Slovak carriers unblocked truck traffic entering Slovakia at the Vysne Nemecke checkpoint for an indefinite period of time, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported on its Telegram channel.
“Since the end of the blockade, as of 09:00 on December 15, almost 60 trucks have been cleared to leave Ukraine through the Uzhhorod checkpoint, and another 1065 are in the electronic queue to leave Ukraine,” the statement said.
As reported, on December 11, Polish carriers ended the blockade in front of the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint.
The Union of Road Carriers of Slovakia (UNAS) blocked truck traffic through the only border checkpoint with Ukraine, Vysne Nemecke-Uzhhorod, from 15:00 on December 11.
Yulia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Peter Kmec, Vice Prime Minister for Recovery, Resilience and Use of European Funds of Slovakia, discussed the possibility of oil supplies through the Odesa-Brody pipeline.
“We discussed the situation at border crossings, bilateral trade, industrial cooperation, and energy. We are inspired by the implemented project to supply oil through Ukraine to Slovakia through the port terminal and pipeline from Odesa,” Svyrydenko wrote on Twitter (X).
According to her, Ukraine is also interested in providing Slovakia with natural gas storage services in its underground storage facilities (UGS).
As part of the Ukrainian delegation’s visit, Ukrtransnafta CEO Volodymyr Tsependa met with a representative of the operator of the Slovak section of the Druzhba pipeline, Transpetrol’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Martin Ruzhynsky.
According to the Ukrainian operator, the parties summarized the results of cooperation in 2023 and discussed plans for organizing transportation work for the next year.
“The results of the year demonstrate well-coordinated cooperation with our European partners. We want to maintain this result in the future, so we discussed all issues related to oil transportation in 2024, in particular, the modes of pumping through the Druzhba pipeline,” Cependa said in a statement.
Slovakia will extend the embargo on imports of Ukrainian grain from January 1, 2024 for an indefinite period, and will also expand the list of Ukrainian agricultural products for which access to the country’s domestic market will be closed, EFE reports.
According to the agency, which cites a statement by the Slovak Ministry of Agriculture, the embargo on the import of Ukrainian goods – wheat, corn, beets and sunflower seeds – to Slovakia expires at the end of this year. Bratislava has decided to maintain these restrictions.
In addition, the government has decided to expand the list of Ukrainian products that will also be subject to an import ban starting January 1, 2024, including barley, wheat flour, cane sugar, malt, soybeans, honey, and some other products.
All products subject to the restrictions can cross the country’s border only in sealed transit. The purpose of these measures is to protect local agricultural producers.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has announced the creation of the Ukraine Capacity Development Fund (UCDF) to provide technical assistance with a budget of $65 million over five years, and the Netherlands, Japan, Lithuania and Slovakia have become its first contributors for a total of $14.5 million.
“We are looking for $65 million over five years to expand (Ukraine’s) capacity development in the priority sectors supported by the IMF program. I am pleased to announce that donors have already pledged contributions of approximately $14.5 million. I am confident in your support for this initiative,” Georgieva said after a ministerial roundtable on Ukraine, which took place as part of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, which ended on Sunday in Marrakech.
It is specified that the Netherlands’ contribution to the fund amounted to $7 million.
The official event to launch the fund on the sidelines of the IMF and WB meetings was attended by IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko, NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi and his deputy Sergii Nikolaychuk, as well as representatives of the four countries.
“These contributions will support the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities to stabilize macroeconomic conditions and restore the post-war economy while implementing comprehensive reforms that are consistent with Ukraine’s EU accession goals,” the IMF said in a statement announcing the creation of the UCDF.
Pyshny thanked the IMF for launching the new fund. He emphasized the importance of international financial assistance for Ukraine, reforming the Ukrainian economy, and strengthening the institutional capacity of the authorities.
Capacity Development Fund, JAPAN, LITHUANIA, NETHERLANDS, SLOVAKIA
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed confidence that Poland and Slovakia will continue to support Ukraine after the upcoming elections, despite recent harsh remarks against Kyiv, Reuters reported on Friday, September 29.
“I expect and I am confident that Ukraine and Poland will find a way to resolve these issues without negatively affecting military support for Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with Reuters.
It is noted that Poland, a NATO member, was until recently considered one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in its war with Russia, but relations with it deteriorated after Poland’s decision to extend the ban on imports of Ukrainian grain.
Slovakia, a NATO member, is also an ally of Ukraine, supplying military equipment, including MiG-29 fighter jets and S-300 air defense systems. However, opposition leader and former prime minister Robert Fico, who is leading in pre-election polls, has vowed to end this military support, Reuters emphasizes.
“Whatever the new government in Slovakia, we will continue to sit in NATO meetings,” Stoltenberg said, “and I am confident that we will find ways to continue to provide support – as we have done after every election in this alliance since the beginning of the war.
