Prime Minister Fico thereby insulted all the supporters of the initiative, first of all the 99-year-old member of the SNP, Otto Šimek. At the same time, we see it as a poisonous message to the Czech side, which is all the worse because Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Defense Minister Jana Černochová expressed strong and clear support for the initiative. Our main goal was to symbolically join Slovakia to the Czech initiative, which was achieved. We have shown that Slovakia is neither cowardly nor ungrateful, and if not the government, then civil society can make it clear that it knows where the north is.
When it comes to symbols, we want to clarify that the goal of the collection was to symbolically connect Slovakia to the initiative of the Czech government. Symbolically, in the sense of a strong message to the world that Slovakia is a firm ally of Ukraine, not in terms of the amount of money collected. Everyone knows that any help from Slovakia will not solve the war in Ukraine. But it is important to make it clear that we are on the right side of history. This was also possible thanks to more than 61,000 donors in this collection. We thank you!
Fico also noted that people would not contribute so much to the collection for cancer treatment. It’s not true. Every year, people in Slovakia donate millions of euros for the treatment and support of cancer patients, either through the Good Angel system, in the Daffodil Day fundraiser, or by supporting a number of civic associations active in this area. And they have been doing it for years, because they know that the state is failing in the health sector.
We want to emphasize that the collection for ammunition does not go against the interests of the Slovak government. Robert Fico’s government approves the supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine when it supplies them there on a commercial basis. However, for incomprehensible reasons, she refused to join the Czech initiative, in which she would do it selflessly. With our initiative, we wanted to unify Slovakia’s position on arms supplies.
Unlike Robert Fico, many people in Slovakia know that Putin is not interested in a peaceful solution, that concessions will not stop him and that he is waging war not only against Ukraine, but also against us, against Western countries and our common values of democracy, cooperation and humanity. Only weapons can defend Ukraine. At the same time, they will prevent the advance of the front line towards Slovakia. In this case, guns protect the peace.
Our collection immediately caused a wave of positive feedback from the domestic and international media. They write about it as an important act of civic bravery and an example of true democracy. Ukrainians also send us expressions of gratitude. They appreciate every euro donated. Prime Minister Fico called this huge show of solidarity a “fart”. We don’t know what he needs to prove to himself when he insults active citizens of his own country like this.
We would like to hear the answer to two simple questions from Prime Minister Fico:
Does Ukraine have the right to defend itself? Is the current Slovak government an ally of Ukraine?
We hereby invite Robert Fico to comment on them and give a clear (yes/no) answer. And at the same time to reconsider the position of his government and join the Czech initiative.
We call on him to double the amount we have collected so far and to add 4 million to our 4 million euros as official aid to the Slovak Republic attacked Ukraine.
About the Ammunition for Ukraine initiative
The public collection, from which all money will go to purchase ammunition, is coordinated by MIER UKRAINE together with a proven partner, the organization DÁREK PRO PUTINA (DPP), which provides technical, communication and logistical support to the collection. “Through our organization, the funds collected from Slovakia will reach Ukraine, for whose needs ammunition will be purchased as part of the initiative of the Czech government,” explains Martin Ondráček from the DPP. Last year, MIER UKRAINE and DPP jointly collected the sum of 650,000 euros for the Slovak deminer Božena.
Another partner of the collection is the ALL4 UKRAINE initiative, thanks to which rescue vehicles for over 1.5 million euros reached Ukraine. Fundraising platform Donio is also a partner, which since the beginning of the conflict has been contributing to help Ukrainians in our country or in their homeland.
Donors can send funds through the website www.municiapreukrajinu.sk
If you found an error, write to [email protected].