MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, May 9, 2024 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, May 8): BRATISLAVA - The first four million euros collected in a civic Slovak fundraiser called Ammunition for Ukraine will be used to buy artillery ammunition, organisers of the Peace for Ukraine initiative announced on Wednesday. The first supply of the ammunition for the Ukrainian army will take place in cooperation with representatives of the Czech governmental initiative. The ammunition is going to be procured by a fund for Ukraine, the project of which, titled 'Gift for Putin', partners with the Slovak civic fundraiser. Its plan is to procure the ammunition via the Czech Defence Ministry from a Czech arms manufacturer called STV Group. "We thank STV Group for its fair approach during talks. We made the choice according to specific demand from the Ukrainian side, which has shown great interest in this 122mm ammunition," said Martin Ondracek of the 'Gift for Putin' initiative. "We wanted Slovakia to join symbolically the Czech initiative and we've managed to accomplish that. Therefore, we're grateful for support extended to us by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Defence Minister Jana Cernochova," said one of the fundraisers organisers Fedor Blascak. Ukrainian Ambassador to Slovakia Myroslav Kastran thanked for the crowd-funded ammo. "Our armed forces face severe shortages of artillery ammunition. We'd like to address our thanks once more to all the people who contributed to the fundraiser and thank them for their support," said the ambassador. BRATISLAVA - Schools don't face any security threats at the moment and classrooms will reopen on Thursday (May 9), as the police has inspected all schools where bomb alerts were falsely reported on Tuesday (May 7), Education Minister Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD) announced on Wednesday. According to preliminary police findings, the coordinated mass false reports of bombs in Slovak schools were a cyber attack falling into a hybrid threat category. On Tuesday, more than 1,500 false bomb alerts were reported in schools. "We thank all school directors, teachers and school employees for their responsible approach and help in overcoming the crisis situation. The Police Corps deserves gratitude for their professionalism, support and cooperation," declared Drucker, who also thanked parents for their trust and understanding. According to the Education Minister, attacks of this kind demonstrate clearly why it's necessary to bolster the state's resilience against hybrid threats. "The nature of attacks of this kind pose a challenge, as they can elicit fear, cause damage or interrupt the education of children," he underlined. Because of this, the Education Ministry will continue to meet its commitment under the Government Manifesto to increase the resilience against hybrid threats. "Since April, for example, the ministry has run a department of strategic communication and also plans to make investments into schools' digital infrastructure that will deal with the sphere of cyber security," he added. BRATISLAVA - It's important to remember the legacy of WW2, which is that hateful ideologies can lead to mass killings, President Zuzana Caputova stated during her commemoration of the Victory Day at the Grave of an Unknown Soldier in Bratislava on Wednesday. The head of state underlined that it's our duty not only to protect the world of prosperity, freedom and democracy, but also leave it in the best possible shape to our descendants as well. In Caputova's view, the only right answer to hateful ideologies is trust in the values of freedom and democracy, as well as courage, persistence and cooperation. "We must never forget that Slovakia was liberated from fascists and their collaborators by Soviet, Romanian and Czechoslovak units," she underlined in her social network post. The President pointed out that WW2, which ended 79 years ago, has permanently changed Europe. "On the ruins of a continent wrecked by fighting a new model of peaceful coexistence of European nations and states has been built. A coexistence based on the sharing of common values of democracy and freedom, seeing as both history and the present teaches us that undemocratic and authoritarian regimes pose a threat to peace," she added. BRATISLAVA - It doesn't benefit peace when Slovaks get divided over basic issues, so they should rather unite and embrace tradition and values, as dividing the country is deleterious to peace, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) declared during his commemoration of the Victory Day at the Slavin War Memorial in Bratislava on Wednesday. In his speech, Fico claimed that he holds in high esteem every life sacrificed in WW2 to defeat fascism. Fico underlined that Slovakia was liberated by the Red Army and soldiers of the Romanian Army, which, in his view, has fomented a tight bond between Slovaks and inhabitants of the former Soviet Union. The Prime Minister rejects what he sees as history revisionism and accentuated that the victory in WW2 and the largest share in the defeat of fascism belonged to the Red Army of the former Soviet Union. According to Fico, it doesn't benefit peace if war is discussed lightly. Fico is disappointed in the EU, which was created as a peace project, but has failed to offer a feasible peace plan to end the conflict in Ukraine. "That has been a great display of the EU's weakness," he said, adding that the EU is incapable of standing on its own feet when it comes to foreign affairs policy. The only weapon we have, in Fico's opinion, is the respect for international law. He reiterated that Slovakia must do its utmost to have its foreign policy, based on EU and NATO memberships, oriented towards all four cardinal directions. BRATISLAVA - Life in peace is a vital and national interest of Slovakia because peace cannot be taken for granted and it's not a phrase, acting House Chair Peter Ziga (Voice-SD) declared on Wednesday to mark the Victory Day. According to Ziga, it's necessary to commemorate the day of victory over fascism so that we won't ever allow the causes that led to WW2 to happen again. "That was when militaristic populists, who later turned into war criminals, took advantage of an economic crisis and disintegration," Ziga declared at the Slavin Memorial in Bratislava. Ziga voiced his gratitude to every person that contributed towards the peace. He pointed out that beyond Slovakia's eastern border "the fire of war is burning again", in what is perhaps the greatest conflict since WW2. "We can see in live coverage what war brings and we should do our utmost to stop the violence and the suffering of people. We should use every option, including talks and peace initiatives," he underlined. mf