News digest: Ukraine will win the war, Slovak president says

Good evening. The Tuesday, May 31 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

President Čaputová visits Ukraine

President Zuzana Čaputová met with her Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on May 31, 2022. (source: Facebook - Zuzana Čaputová)

Slovakia's President Zuzana Čaputová visited Ukraine on Tuesday, a few weeks after she accepted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's invitation.

She visited the cities of Borodyanka and Irpin near Kyiv, spoke in the Ukrainian parliament, and met with Zelensky.

"You are defending the law and the rules that have guaranteed our continent decades of peace, the rules that the Russian Federation is visibly trampling on today," Čaputová told Ukrainian MPs. "I believe that your country will win this war."

The president, among other things, supported Ukraine's accession to the European Union as soon as possible.

Watch: ThePress Department of the Verkhovna Rada, which is the Ukrainian parliament, published President Čaputová's speech on YouTube.

Related: Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď (OĽaNO) confirmed Ukrainian soldiers were training on a Zuzana howitzer, produced in Slovakia. Slovakia will provide 8 howitzers of this type to Ukraine, wrote the Polish website Defence 24. Naď talked to his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov on May 30, but they only spoke about the delivery of the Zuzana howitzers to Ukraine. "Both sides are still in discussions on this deal," the ministry said.

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UKRAINE AND UKRAINIANS IN SLOVAKIA

From July 1, the conditions of free transportation for refugees and citizens of Ukraine are to be changed. The reason is frequent abuse of the system, the Central Crisis Staff said. People who will repeatedly enter Slovakia from Ukraine should lose the right to free transport. The basic free transport should be valid either five days after entering Slovakia or five days after obtaining temporary protection.
More than 2,400 Ukrainian refugees entered Slovakia on Monday, May 30, at the border with Ukraine. Of them, 314 applied for temporary protection.
The presence of armed forces on the border with Ukraine will remain, Interior Minister Roman Mikulec (OĽaNO) declared.
Slovakia has officially joined the joint investigation team in connection with the investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine. A team of experts from Slovakia is made up from four prosecutors and 25 police officers, the Prosecutor General's Office announced.

Prices of construction materials skyrocketed, leaving builders uncertain

Building material prices have increased by as much as 24.6 percent between February 2021 and February 2022 based on data of the Slovak Statistics Office. (source: SME)

Soaring prices and a shortage of building materials mean complications for developers, construction companies, potential dwellers, and municipalities.

The costs of projects that have already been agreed upon are now increasing, while calculating the price of a new project is a tricky task.

"I have not experienced such a period my entire time in this business, and I don't think anyone else has," said Milan Murcko, general director of YIT Slovakia, the Slovak arm of the Finnish developer.

Planning has always been difficult, he added, but it is much harder now.

IN OTHER NEWS

Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) held brief talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on May 31. "We talked about cooperation between Slovakia and France in the field of nuclear energy and nuclear fuel supplies," the PM said.
Ryanair, the largest air carrier in Europe and Slovakia, has unveiled its summer flight schedule for Bratislava.
Slovakia can use oil from Russia until it finds a full-fledged replacement, PM Heger said after European leaders reached a deal on a partial oil embargo against Russia.

A mining harvester in the Nováky coal mine. (source: TASR)

The European Public Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment before the Specialised Criminal Court in Slovakia concerning criminal charges against three natural persons and one legal person. The accusations concern fraud in relation to the European Regional Development Fund amounting to almost €375,000, an unlawful application for the refund of VAT in the amount of more than €137,000, as well as tax evasion for more than €29,500.
The emergency situation in connection with the coronavirus pandemic in Slovakia will remain in force for the time being, Interior Minister Mikulec said.

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