Speaking on Slovak television Fico described next year’s commemoration as “a peace rally” and said that the war in Ukraine had nothing to do with next year’s service.

Fico also announced that he would attend a ceremony on Sunday honoring the 1944 Carpatho-Dukla Operation that saw the Red Army try to seize the Dukla Pass between Poland and Slovakia from the Germans.

Fico said that he planned to attend to show that he had not forgotten that “freedom came from the East.”

He also spoke out against the war in Ukraine, stating that he did not understand why both sides continued killing each other in an apparent stalemate. Fico said: “We are where we were two years ago. The Russians have made greater territorial gains, and we have hundreds of thousands of dead soldiers. And there is still no military solution in sight.”

The Slovak prime minister reiterated the need for negotiations saying that every war ended at the negotiating table. Fico also stated that he would do everything in his means to ensure that Slovakia resumed standard relations with Russia once the war ends.

Fico said during a join meeting between the governments of Ukraine and Slovakia on Monday, that he would convince Ukraine to maintain the transit of oil and gas seeing that Bratislava supported Kyiv’s EU ambitions.

Fico also said that a Trump win in the US election would ultimately help Ukraine as it would increase the chances of peace with Russia.