Estok: Slovakia sees Biden's Proposal for Ukraine as Escalation of Conflict

Brussels, November 18 (TASR) - Slovakia does not support the U.S. administration's proposal to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marek Estok said after Monday's session of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. Estok noted that the Council of Ministers dealt with several important topics, including the situation in Ukraine, Georgia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. Estok noted that the issue US long-range missiles wasn't directly discussed at the meeting and was mentioned only very marginally. Estok repeated the words of Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD), stating that Slovakia sees the decision of the USA to allow Ukraine to use US long-range missiles on targets in Russia as an escalation of the conflict, which does not lead to a peaceful solution. "Slovakia's position has been clear from the beginning. We support peaceful solutions and initiatives and we do not perceive this as a manner to achieve a peaceful solution," Estok said. Estok stressed that this was a decision of the incumbent US administration, and Slovakia, according to him, is counting on the next US administration to come up with a different approach to the situation in Ukraine. "Re-elected president Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his belief that he will succeed in ending the war in Ukraine, so we are all waiting to see how he'll do it. Slovak diplomacy will support any peaceful solution that leads to an end to the killing on both sides," Estok said. tl/mcs/zel