Fico was wounded Wednesday afternoon after attending a government meeting in the town of Handlova, some 150 km northeast of the capital. He was shot by a 71-year-old man. According to eyewitnesses, the man shot the premier several times after a cabinet meeting as he was greeting supporters. Fico had been transported by helicopter to the Roosevelt Hospital in Banska Bystrica, as the flight to the capital would take a longer time.

Attacker identified

Slovak media later identified the attacker as Juraj Cintula, reportedly a poet and founder of the Slovak Association of Writers, and a supporter of the opposition Progressive Slovakia party, and he used his licensed gun for the crime. The head of the left-wing Smer-SD party, Fico returned to office in October 2023 after serving two stints as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018.

He halted the previous policy of military aid to Kiev and called for a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine. This had put him at odds with other European countries, save Hungary, which follows a similar course.