Second NATO leader rebels within days of Putin-Orban meet: 'won't fund Ukraine war machine'| Russia

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico says he expects an EU summit fight over how to fund fresh aid for Ukraine, warning that both main ideas on the table—confiscating around €140 billion in frozen Russian assets or making member states cover interest on an EU loan backed by those assets—are unacceptable to Bratislava. Arguing that seizing the funds would be illegal and simply “finance the war,” he backs using Russian assets only later as part of a US‑brokered peace deal and reconstruction package, and insists Slovakia will offer humanitarian help but “will not finance Ukraine’s war machine” from its own resources.