BRATISLAVA, May 17. /TASS/. Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico underwent surgery again on Friday, and is still in serious condition, Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister Robert Kalinak said, as cited by Reuters.

According to the defense minister, it will take a few days to determine whether or not his condition is improving.

Kalinak added that Fico was conscious and in the intensive care unit. Kalinak was hopeful that the prime minister would get better soon.

An assassination attempt on Fico took place in the town of Handlova in western Slovakia on May 15. The prime minister suffered several wounds and subsequently underwent surgery. According to the authorities, his condition is not life-threatening now. The attacker, who, as Slovakian media reported, is a 71-year-old writer called Juraj Cintula, was apprehended. He is charged with a politically motivated assassination attempt on the prime minister.

Fico served as Slovakia’s prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and then from 2012 to 2018. He again headed the government in October 2023. Fico has been a staunch critic of the West’s policy on Ukraine for long, emphasizing that the conflict cannot be resolved militarily, whereas arms shipments to Kiev just result in casualties.