SUMMARY - Thursday, June 23, 2022 - 1 p.m.

BRATISLAVA - The pandemic in 2021 discouraged approximately 1.4 million Slovaks from travelling, the Statistics Office has reported. BRUSSELS - Slovakia is set to support granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, while at the same time it'll support Georgia's European perspectives, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) stated before the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. KOSICE - Head of Kosice region Rastislav Trnka announced on Thursday that he'll aim to defend his post in the upcoming regional elections, running as a candidate on the slate of a coalition formed by the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and the ethnic-Hungarian Alliance party. BRATISLAVA - A total of 3,195 people from Ukraine entered Slovakia via the Slovak-Ukrainian border on Wednesday (June 22), of which 852 were men, 1,840 women and 503 children, TASR has learnt from Interior Ministry spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova. ZVOLEN - Former MEP and ex-head of Banska Bystrica region Vladimir Manka announced on Thursday that he'll run for the post of Zvolen mayor in the upcoming municipal elections as an independent candidate. BRATISLAVA - Head of Smer-SD Robert Fico claimed at a press conference on Thursday that the authorities are preparing to press further charges against Smer representatives. zel