Slovak president says the war in Ukraine is wearing down Europe economically and morally

In brief

• Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said the war in Ukraine is straining Europe economically and morally.
• He spoke after a Visegrad Four summit in Trencin and called for EU involvement in peace talks.
• Russian state media repeated the claim; Ukrainian reporting carries the remarks.

Pellegrini's remarks at the Visegrad summit

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said the war in Ukraine is beginning to wear down Europe both economically and morally (Президент Словаччини: війна в Україні починає виснажувати Європу – Українська правда).

Money and public anger

Pellegrini said the billions needed to support Ukraine's defence are not reaching hospitals, schools and infrastructure in individual member states (В Словакии заявили об истощении Европы из-за Украины – tvzvezda.ru).

He also said the EU cannot keep spending up to 100 billion euros a year on a war without taking steps to end the hostilities. Pellegrini did not say which programmes would be cut or how the money would be redirected.

Joint Visegrad position

The presidents of the Visegrad Four, which includes Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, issued a joint declaration in which they expressed support for Ukraine and urged a peace that is fair and durable. They also supported further EU enlargement and secure, affordable energy supplies.

Russian media framing

Russian state-run outlet Zvezda reported Pellegrini's statements as evidence that Europe is being exhausted by the conflict, and tied them to the cost of aid to Kyiv. This is the Russian state media's version of the story; the substance of Pellegrini's quoted remarks is confirmed by the Ukrainian report.