Blanar Informed EU Council about Slovakia's Continued Assistance to Ukraine

Luxembourg, October 14 (TASR-correspondent) - Slovakia will continue to assist Ukraine, Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) said at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday, referring to the Slovak-Ukrainian intergovernmental talks in Uzhhorod, TASR learnt on the same day. The minister noted that the meeting of EU ministers traditionally focused on the war in Ukraine and the escalation of tensions in the Middle East. In this context, he reported on the recent third meeting between the Slovak and Ukrainian governments, where, as he noted, both sides discussed the problems that are most troubling Ukraine - electricity shortages and outages, and preparation for winter. He specified that Slovakia wants to supply electricity to Ukraine through an electricity grid interconnection project. "I said that we're preparing two more humanitarian aid packages - preparation for winter and the provision of non-lethal equipment," said Blanar, adding that these would be mainly Bozena systems and chemical detectors. According to the minister, the developments in the Middle East, where the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon is ongoing, can be described as an "erosion of international law". He informed the other EU countries of the evacuation of around 100 people from Lebanon, Slovaks and citizens of other countries, which had been arranged by Slovakia. "Tensions are also heightened by the fact that international troops from the UN mission, UNIFIL, which is supposed to maintain ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, have been attacked. This is unacceptable," stressed the minister, who is critical of the fact that Israel wants to add the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to the sanctions list. "We pointed out that only UNRWA is capable of providing humanitarian assistance. If it is excluded from this, the disaster in the Gaza Strip will be even greater and civilians will suffer even more," he stressed. am