ATHENS

The new Slovak government refused to approve a military aid package for Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday.

The €40.3 million ($43 million) package was prepared by the outgoing government and included four million bullets for rifles, 5,172 pieces of artillery shells, 140 air-defense missiles, eight mortars, and 1,200 mines, said the state-run TASR news agency.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, Slovakia provided Ukraine with 13 military aid packages worth €671 million ($716 million).

Slovakia's new Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Oct. 26 that his government will stop military aid to Ukraine.

Fico's leftist SMER party won elections in September on a promise to end military aid to Ukraine, stop immigration, and defend Slovakian sovereignty.