Defence Secretary visits Slovakia to discuss support for Ukraine
Ben Wallace, the first Defence Secretary to visit Slovakia in over a decade, met with Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad in Bratislava for talks on how we can work even more closely to enhance our support.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Slovakian Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad in Bratislava
The Defence Secretary visited Slovakia today (Mon 25 July) to meet his counterpart and discuss our joint work to support Ukraine and safeguard European security.
The UK and Slovakia have been working in lockstep to support Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s illegal invasion. Britain was the first European country to supply military aid to Ukraine and recently announced plans to send hundreds of drones and scores of artillery guns, while Slovakia was the first NATO ally to donate air defence systems and recently revealed it would send self-propelled howitzers to the country.
Ben Wallace met with Slovakian Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad in Bratislava to speak about what more can be done and how we work together going forward to enhance our support for Ukraine.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:
Slovakia is a leader in Central Europe in standing up for Ukraine and resisting Russian aggression.
I was delighted to visit my good friend Jaroslav Nad today. Our bilateral meeting explored next steps in military aid to the conflict as well as British support to Slovakian defence.
Ben Wallace and Jaroslav Nad discussed other important topics during the one-day visit, including our joint work through NATO and efforts to counter Russian disinformation in Eastern Europe and promote peace and stability in the region.
They also spoke about how we might expand and deepen our historic defence partnership, which dates back to World War 2, when Slovak pilots served in the RAF and brave soldiers from the former Czechoslovakia, trained in the UK in cooperation with the Czechoslovakian government in exile in Britain, assassinated high-ranking Nazi Reinhard Heydrich.
Today, the UK and Slovakia have a close defence relationship which is growing, with cooperation in a number of areas such as through joint training and exercises, including the British Military Advisory Training Team (BMATT), which is delivering a course this month in Slovakia.