Slovakia to sell Zuzana howitzer to Ukraine: MoD
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Slovakia is moving in on an arms sale to Ukraine amid an ongoing war in the country, and this could see Bratislava giving Kiev howitzers and proving maintenance to its tanks.
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Zuzana 155 mm slovak mobile artillery
Slovakia is holding talks with fellow Slavic state Ukraine over the sale of domestic-made self-propelled howitzer Zuzana, Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said Sunday.
"We are currently negotiating with Ukraine on the possible supply of Zuzana self-propelled howitzers. In this case, it should not be a donation, but a sale," Nad said on air of the RTVS public broadcaster, though he did not go into which type of Zuzana howitzer the deal would revolve around.
The minister also revealed that talks were also underway about the possibility of Bratislava providing repair services for damaged Ukrainian T-72 and T-75 combat vehicles at Slovakia's defense enterprises. The vehicles will be returned back to Ukraine upon completion of operations, he stressed.
Nad also touched on the operation of old Soviet MiG-29 fighter aircraft by the Slovak air forces after Russian mechanics stopped maintaining them, which has been very detrimental to the state of the fighters.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that supplying various types of weapons to Ukraine did not contribute to success in Russian-Ukrainian negotiations.
Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger confirmed during a visit to the Ukrainian capital that his country provided Kiev with an S-300 air defense system to help Ukraine in the ongoing war.
Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, had also warned that the influx of Western arms to the conflict zone in Ukraine was adding fuel to the fire.
"It is extremely important that Western countries stop adding fuel to the fire by pumping Kiev's regime with weapons," he said.
The United Kingdom was the latest major Western country that announced sending more arms to Ukraine, namely Starstreak missiles, in a package worth some £150 million ($195 million).
This added to the package of billions of dollars of arms and military equipment sent to Kiev since the war began, not to mention the military training provided to Ukrainian soldiers.
The US government has provided Ukraine with $2.3 billion in security assistance since President Joe Biden took office last January, including thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems, and lately, the European Union has agreed to send $500 million worth of arms and equipment to Kiev, and Ukraine nonetheless still urged the West to boost its military capabilities.
