Ukraine and its citizens have simply become a bargaining chip in the geopolitical squabble, says Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
"In fact, most of the member states of the European Union are obsessed with Ukraine and hatred towards Russia, which leads to peculiar views that are undoubtedly propagated in the European media — that the war in Ukraine should continue to weaken Russia," Fico said in his video address published on social media.
The Slovak leader said that obsession was linked to unfounded scaremongering claims that Russia might attack a NATO member.
"In reality, Ukraine is only being used for geopolitical purposes to weaken Russia both economically and internationally," Fico added.
The Slovak prime minister also viewed Ukraine's possible accession to the EU as nothing more than a political gesture to cover up inconvenient realities on the battlefield.
15 December 2023, 17:22 GMT
He emphasized that it will take years before Ukraine can realistically join the EU as the country is not ready both in terms of democratic functioning and the fight against corruption — putting the European Union in a hopeless situation.
"When major EU members calculate the hundreds of billions of euros that Ukraine's EU membership would cost, the decision made in Brussels will remain a political gesture for many years," Fico added.
He believes that Ukraine is simply a 'golden goose' for Western companies involved in the arms trade — regardless of the human cost.
"I fear that, in the name of these geopolitical goals, the West will continue to fight with Russia until the last Ukrainian soldier, and we are not far from that," Fico said.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed as "complete nonsense" recent comments by US President Joe Biden about a possible Russian attack on NATO. Putin stressed that Russia has no interest in waging war against NATO countries, saying there was no political, economic or military reasons to do so.
Moscow has previously argued that Kiev intends to continue fighting "to the last Ukrainian" in the interests of Western powers.
Russia earlier warned NATO countries against further arms shipments to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously accused NATO countries of "playing with fire" by supplying weapons to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that arming Ukraine with Western weapons would not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and would only have a negative impact. Lavrov charged that the US and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, "not only through arms supplies, but also by training personnel... on the territory of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and other countries."