Ukraine's foreign minister heads to Slovakia from Bucharest

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is heading to Slovakia after holding a series of meetings in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

Sybiha is leaving for Slovakia on the afternoon of 18 September, immediately after the morning meetings in Bucharest.

He will meet with Slovakia's President Peter Pellegrini, Prime Minister Robert Fico and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanár in Bratislava.

"The key topics of the talks will be ensuring support for Ukraine in countering Russian aggression; strengthening Slovakia's role in implementing President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy's Peace Formula; supporting Ukraine on its path to EU and NATO membership, and implementing bilateral projects set out in the Roadmap for Joint Action between Ukraine and Slovakia," the Foreign Ministry said.

Following the talks, the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Slovakia will make statements to the press.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry explained that the visits to Bucharest and Bratislava are part of Sybiha's tour of the region.

The ministry noted that Andrii Sybiha is making his first visits as foreign minister to Ukraine's neighbours to signal Kyiv's commitment to "developing a pragmatic and predictable neighbourhood policy and prioritising the strategic goal of Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO".

On 5 September, the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) voted to appoint Sybiha as foreign minister, replacing Dmytro Kuleba. Sybiha had served as the first deputy foreign minister since April 2024, and prior to that, he was deputy head of the President's Office.