Zelensky 'a beggar and blackmailer' - EU state's PM | 11 Jan 2025 | Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has lashed out at Vladimir Zelensky, declaring that the Ukrainian leader's "begging and blackmailing" needs "to stop." Relations between Bratislava and Kiev soured when Ukraine cut off the flow of Russian gas earlier this month. "I'm not here to hold hands with Zelensky, and I'll admit, I'm sick of him sometimes," Fico said at a meeting of the Slovak parliament's foreign affairs committee on Friday. "He roams Europe begging and blackmailing, asking others for money," Fico continued, adding: "This needs to stop." Immediately after taking office in 2023, Fico halted military aid to Ukraine and vowed to veto the country's potential accession to NATO.