Slovakia PM Confirms S-300 Transfer To Ukraine

Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger has confirmed that Slovakia has completed the transfer of a sophisticated, Soviet designed, S-300 missile defence system to Ukraine.

• Heger: 'I would like to confirm that Slovakia has provided Ukraine with an air-defence system S-300. Ukrainian nation is bravely defending its sovereign country and us too. It is our duty to help, not to stay put and be ignorant to the loss of human lives under Russia’s aggression.'
• The transfer is one of the most overtly offensive weapon systems transferred to Kyiv from a NATO member state and follows reports of Czech Republic plan to supply Ukraine with T-72 tanks.
• The Czech and Slovak transfers are particularly symbolic considering the legacy of the Prague Spring in 1968 when Moscow dispatched the military to Prague to suppress a democratic movement.
• It is likely that more sophisticated weapons transfers will now follow after a paradigm shift compelled by credible reports of Russian war crimes emerged this week.
• Yesterday was also a particularly punitive day for Russia with the EU and NATO members agreeing to an additional tranche of measures targeting Russian elites and the Russian hydrocarbon industry.