News digest: Slovakia discusses further military aid to Ukraine

Good evening. The Thursday, April 7 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready, giving you the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

Slovakia could repair Ukraine military technology

Howitzer Zuzana (source: TASR)

Slovakia might help Ukraine repair seized Russian tanks and military vehicles as well as damaged Ukrainian military technology. As a result, military aid provided to Ukraine might not be limited to the supplies of fuels and ammunition.

Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď (OĽaNO) has confirmed that Slovakia and the Czech Republic are negotiating potential servicing of damaged military technology with Ukraine.

“It will most probably happen,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Slovakia may supply heavy military equipment to Ukraine – 'Zuzana' howitzers that have been gradually replaced by more modern models.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry has reiterated that it is ready to send Slovakia's S-300 air defence system, but requires an adequate replacement from other NATO countries before it does so.

Even though the S-300 is not a modern system, it can still effectively destroy planes, drones and missiles. It could protect cities or strategic aims in Ukraine, such as nuclear power plants.

Despite warnings from the Kremlin to NATO that it will consider any supplies of weapons as legitimate military targets, deliveries from Poland, Romania and Slovakia have continued.

Russian gas cut off would mean €300 million annual loss for Slovakia

(source: SITA/AP)

Slovakia could lose €300 million a year if Russian gas supplies were restricted or halted, new analysis has shown. The company Eustream, which secures transport of gas from the east to west of the country, would suffer the biggest loss, a study by the FinStat organisation shows.

The state would lose dividends from the Slovak gas carrier and unpaid income tax. Eustream is the largest payer of income tax every year.

FinStat estimated the state would lose around 0.77 percent of general government revenue (2021).

"Of course, it would depend on how the whole situation is resolved, but Eustream annually transports more than 90 percent of the gas that does not end up in Slovak industry or households," FinStat said in its analysis.

Meanwhile, at a meeting on Wednesday, the government also approved a crisis plan in the event of a power crisis. However, the government did not publish the plan.

"There is sensitive, even confidential information [in the plan],” Sulík said. “The situation is currently stable. We are working towards [having] an independent in our energy supply."

Refugees from Ukraine

Almost 308,000 refugees from Ukraine have crossed the Slovak-Ukrainian border since the war started. More than 63,000 of them asked for temporary protection in Slovakia.
For several weeks now, a centre where refugees can come and take whatever goods they need has been operating in Bratislava's Aupark shopping centre. The initiative behind the centre emphasise the need to register for a specific date and time when refugees can come and pick what they need.
So far, 6,248 Ukrainian students have been enrolled in Slovak schools, Education Minister Branislav Gröhling said.
A part of this year's Dobrý trh event on Panenská Street in Bratislava will be a bilingual program for Ukrainians. According to organisers, the civic society group OZ Punkt, almost 200 traders will be at the event on Saturday, April 30.

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Photo of the day

People in Bratislava burnt a 'Morena' at Bratislava's Lake Kuchajda. The effigy of the Morena, which symbolises the winter, was made of straw clothed in a dress. Setting the effigy on fire and thrown into water is part of a traditional ritual which usually takes place two weeks before Easter.

Morena burning in Bratislava (7 photos)

Feature story for today

Viktor Orbán campaigned on a promise not to let Hungary be dragged into the war in Ukraine, and refused to supply Ukraine with weapons – or even to allow weapons to be transported through Hungarian territory to Ukraine. He accused the opposition, without evidence, of wanting to drag Hungary into the war.

Observers noted that, in terms of his attitude towards Ukraine, Orbán is isolated within the Visegrad Group (V4), which includes Slovakia, Czechia, Poland and Hungary. Unless he changes his approach, cooperation within the Visegrad Group will likely be reduced to a minimum.

In other news

4,380 people were newly diagnosed as Covid positive out of 10,952 PCR tests performed on Wednesday. The number of people in hospitals is 1,831 people. 18 more deaths were reported on Wednesday. The vaccination rate stands at 51.28 percent, 2,820,447 people have received a first dose of a vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here.
The student company Scribo from Košice has won the De La Vega Global Entrepreneurship Award.
Google launches its product and licence programme for news called Google News Showcase in Slovakia. Slovakia is the third country in the central and eastern Europe region, and 9th country in Europe, where the product has been introduced.
A weak earthquake with a 2.1 magnitude was recorded in Slovakia on Wednesday evening. Its epicentre was between Slovenská Ľupča and Banská Bystrica in central Slovakia. There have been six earthquakes in the Horehronie region since 2015, including Wednesday's.
Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlčan (OĽaNO nominee) signed a memorandum of cooperation with chair of the board of directors of Poľnoservis company Robert Spišák. The aim of memorandum is to ensure production of oil from rapeseed in Slovakia. Prices of oils are expected to rise and while Slovakia is self-sufficient in growth of rapeseed, it is usually processed in other countries.
The Education Ministry plans to allocate €7.6 million from Slovakia's resilience and recovery plan to buy foreign-language textbooks for schools. Education Minister Branislav Gröhling (SaS) said schools will be given €19.1 million euros to purchase textbooks.