Relations between Kyiv and Bratislava soured further on Monday night when Ukraine suggested “ethnic hatred” could have been behind the death of one of its citizens in the Slovak capital.
Slovak media have reported that the Ukrainian victim, whose identity has not been revealed, was beaten by security guards and possibly also by a police patrol after allegedly being caught shoplifting Jan. 30 at an upscale mall in the Slovak capital. The suspected assault was reported by a paramedic and was caught on camera.
“We demand an impartial investigation and accountability,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media Monday evening. “We cannot exclude ethnic hatred as one of the reasons for this crime.”
The death of a citizen abroad isn’t something that would normally draw public comment from top Slovak or Ukrainian officials, but Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine has stoked mutual tensions to the boiling point.
Slovakia initially provided close political, military and civic support to neighboring Ukraine following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, and by early 2023 the nation of 5.4 million people had recorded over 1.2 million arrivals from Ukraine.
Since Russia-friendly Slovak PM Robert Fico returned to power in late 2023, however, his administration has cut off the flow of state arms to Ukraine. Fico also visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in late 2024.
That visit exacerbated tensions between Bratislava and Kyiv, which have exploded this year following the refusal of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to continue exporting Russian natural gas through his country’s territory to Slovakia.
“Zelenskyy is our enemy,” Fico said Jan. 28. “Zelenskyy has caused the problems we are experiencing [with an expected €500 million shortfall from lost gas transit fees]. I don’t like him, because he is damaging Slovakia.” The Slovak leader promised to veto EU aid for Ukraine if gas deliveries from Russia are not renewed.
The death of the Ukraine national in Bratislava was initially handled by a local police precinct, but the country’s national police force soon took the reins following “multiple ambiguities in the approach the police took, which will be the subject of further investigation,” the police force said in a statement on social media.
“We will be closely scrutinizing this case to ensure that all police, if they are under suspicion, fulfilled their duty,” said the temporary president of the Slovak national police corps, Jana Maškarová.
Despite Slovak police promises of a full-court press on the Ukraine victim’s investigation, however, the Kyiv embassy in Bratislava was in full voice on Monday.
“The Ukraine side isn’t ruling out that this crime could have been committed because of the ethnic origin of the victim and in the context of the unreasonable inflammation of anti-Ukraine moods in Slovak society,” the embassy said in a statement.
“We regard this tragic incident as a gross violation of human rights and rule of law.”
The Slovak police inspectorate didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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