Kyiv has rejected the calls from Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico for Ukraine to cede territory to the Russian invaders. 

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said: “No security in Ukraine means no security in Slovakia or Europe as a whole. We must work together to bring Ukraine’s victory closer.” In response to Fico's suggestion of a compromise, Nikolenko firmly stated, “There can be no compromise on territorial integrity. Not Ukraine, not Slovakia, not any other country.” Nikolenko further emphasized that Ukraine and its partners are striving to remove Russian forces from Crimea, Donbas, and Luhansk, in order to prevent their expansion into neighboring regions such as eastern Slovakia. During a recent press conference alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Fico declared that Russia's conflict with Ukraine "has no military solution." 

The tension between the two nations comes ahead of a scheduled meeting between Fico and his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal, on January 24.