Fico Signals Security Council Meeting after Drone Attacks Near Border

Bratislava, 21 May (TASR) - The Slovak Security Council is likely to be convened shortly, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced at a press conference on Thursday in response to calls for a meeting following last week's Russian drone attacks on the Zakarpattia region in western Ukraine. Fico underlined that no formal Security Council session took place on Wednesday (20 May); only a security consultation at the level of the defence and interior ministries. Fico said that it's a serious matter if drones fly near the borders of NATO-member states. "And those drones are mostly Ukrainian, that is the whole problem. What will we do if such a drone becomes a provocation somewhere? And if it isn't just an accident. What if a target is hit and something happens?" asked Fico. He added that such situations could only be avoided through dialogue, which, according to him, is currently lacking. Ukraine's Zakarpattia region faced its largest Russian attack since the start of the invasion in February 2022 last week. According to the Ukrainian military, 11 Shahed and Geran-type drones entered the region's airspace during the aerial attack. Ukrainian air defence forces and electronic warfare systems reportedly managed to shoot down or disable most of them. The drones were intercepted within Ukrainian airspace only 50 kilometres from the Slovak border. In response to the attack, Slovakia closed all border crossings with Ukraine until further notice for security reasons. mf/df