Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during an interview in Bratislava, Slovakia, on April 25, 2023. (Michaela Nagyidaiova/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico underwent a second surgery and is in stable but serious condition following an assassination attempt, Slovak media reported on May 17.
Fico was shot on May 15 in the town of Handlova. A 71-year-old man, identified as Juraj C. was arrested at the scene.
Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok described it as a "politically motivated" assassination attempt.
Authorities said on May 17 that Fico has had two surgeries and his condition has stabilized. At the same time, the Dennik N media outlet reported that none of the doctors personally attending to Fico have spoken publicly.
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee approved $500 million in aid for Ukraine as part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Reuters reported on July 11.
According to Ukraine's military intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov, Russia’s earlier announcement of its entry into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast serves a political goal.
"We consider these searches to be another wave of attack on Vitaliy Shabunin and the Anti-Corruption Action Center for criticizing the Presidential Office and (Presidential Office head) Andrii Yermak personally," the center said.
The Ukraine-U.S. Reconstruction Investment Fund will provide opportunities not only for U.S. companies but also for other countries, representatives of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation said during a workshop at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on July 11.
A source in Ukraine's military intelligence told the Kyiv Independent the attack had destroyed a section of a key pipeline supplying Russian military-industrial facilities in Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, and Sverdlovsk oblasts.
Ukraine and the EU will allocate 100 million euro ($117 million) to boost battlefield-driven solutions under the newly-launched BraveTech EU initiative, announced at the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Rome on July 11.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, war has become a daily reality for thousands of Ukrainian children. Some Ukrainian military units, such as the Azov Brigade, offer boot camps for teenagers to teach them the basics of self-defense, first aid, dry firing, and other survival skills — helping them prepare for both the realities of today and the uncertainties of the future.
Russian authorities confirmed that Colonel Sergei Ilyin, commander of Russia's 155th Marine Brigade, has been buried, without disclosing the cause of death.
"As a result of the explosion, a satellite communication hardware station—intended by Russian military leadership to coordinate occupying forces—was also destroyed," Ukraine's military intelligence said.
Chris York
