Zelenskyy Responds to Fico's Open Letter

Kiev/Bratislava, January 13 (TASR) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to meet him in Kiev, TASR learnt on Monday. Zelenskyy responded this way to Fico's open letter, in which the Prime Minister had proposed a joint negotiation on the transit of gas and the mutual ties of the two countries. "Okay, come to Kiev this Friday," Zelenskyy wrote in a short post on X. Previously, in his video on a social network, Fico had proposed a meeting in Slovakia at a location close to the Ukrainian border. In his open letter, Fico reiterated that the decision to stop the transit of gas through Ukraine to Slovakia and other consumers causes extensive financial losses to Ukraine, Slovakia and the EU. "I'm not alone with my stance in Europe. Even if I disregard the fact that the shutdown of the gas transit causes a loss of about €500 million annually to the Slovak Republic, the most decisive is the impact of your decision on the competitiveness of the EU, an organisation you seek to join," underlined Fico. Fico also supports the existing peace plans for Ukraine and proposes to have peace talks at any level take place in Slovakia as well. mf/mcs