Kyiv voices disappointment at Fico's remarks on the army
A retrospective on 9 September 2024, when Ukraine's Foreign Ministry answered the Slovak prime minister's call to purge the armed forces, days into a cabinet reshuffle.
What did Kyiv make of the Slovak prime minister's demand that it clean up its army? On 9 September 2024, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed disappointment over assertions by Robert Fico, Slovakia's prime minister, that Ukraine should remove "fascist elements" from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The ministry noted that the rhetoric resembled Russian allegations of present-day neo-Nazism in Ukraine's Azov Brigade. The exchange added a new strain to relations between Slovakia and Ukraine.
A government in flux
The ministry's response came at a time of upheaval in Kyiv's own government. On 3 September 2024, five Ukrainian ministers resigned, among them Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna. Their departures left more than one-third of the cabinet vacant.
On 4 September 2024, Dmytro Kuleba resigned as foreign affairs minister, as part of the same cabinet reshuffle. The Foreign Ministry's statement on 9 September 2024 therefore came only days after the departure of its head.
