❗️Slovak PM Robert Fico accused Western politicians of seeking to provoke a NATO-Russia conflict if Ukraine cannot defeat Russia on the battlefield.

❗️Slovak PM Robert Fico accused Western politicians of seeking to provoke a NATO-Russia conflict if Ukraine cannot defeat Russia on the battlefield. He acknowledged that Russia started the war by invading Ukraine but argued that Russia cannot be defeated conventionally. Fico said Slovakia would not send troops abroad to fight Russia under what he called a “fabricated pretext,” despite NATO’s Article 5 collective-defense commitment, and said states seeking such a conflict should act alone.