The victory of the Smer SD political party at the parliamentary elections in Slovakia with its pro-russian leader Robert Fico is seen as a potential roadblock for further military assistance to neighboring Ukraine. That is because Fico ran for elections declaring he would stop military aid supplies to Ukraine and reaffirmed his commitment after the victory.
After all, another politician with real power adds to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban who is already deemed as the biggest source of discord in the EU and NATO. Either way, Bratislava is yet to form a coalition because even though Smer SD won the majority of votes, it still has only 23% of the seats, so the government's composition is yet to be decided.
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Generally, the situation seems to have not many reasons for concern regarding the military aid from Slovakia to its partners from Ukraine. During the tenure of former prime minister Peter Pellegrini, Slovakia sent a multitude of various weapons of Soviet design. Moreover, the country became the pioneer to provide a full-fledged air defense system, the S-300, and to announce the provision of fighter aircraft. Later, Slovakia together with Poland sent their MiG-29s to Ukraine.
However, each country has limited resources to provide as military aid, and Slovakia is no exception. Apart from air defenses and jets, Bratislava also supplied Mi-17 helicopters in July 2022, a Kub anti-aircraft missile system, and 30 BMP-1 armored vehicles in exchange for Leopard 2A4 tanks.
In addition, Ukraine also received mine-clearance vehicles and medical supplies, missiles for S-300 and aircraft, ammunition, and spare parts of Soviet equipment. There were also several contracts on Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzer procurement, 24 units ordered in total, the deliveries are still in progress.
In March 2023, Ukrainian parliament's Deputy Chair Olena Kondratiuk had a meeting with Slovak National Council Speaker Boris Kollár, the Ukrainian official thanked her colleague for the military assistance, adding that "Slovakia, in particular, has provided military assistance to Ukraine for 10% of its defense budget and is among the top ten countries in the world in this regard."
At this point, however, the absolute majority of what Slovakia could give Ukraine has already been sent. The rest is only available if something were to replace it in the "ring exchange" manner or via a special discount mechanism introduced by the United States for the procurement of AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters.
Even pro-Ukrainian Peter Pellegrini said the resources for additional military assistance had been exhausted, though noted that all the ongoing contracts on weapons and ammunition production by Slovak manufacturers for Ukraine were still being upheld.
Besides, it is unlikely that fluctuations in politics disrupt the supplies of new weapons which are bought through contracts and funded by the European Union missions. Thus the results of elections should have minimal effect in terms of arms provisions.
On the other hand, in terms of political support in the international arena, a pro-russian leader may cause misunderstandings and hinder joint efforts of EU and NATO in supporting the country currently repelling the russian onslaught.
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