One year of Russia's aggression: Those 365 days of war in Ukraine have meant hundreds of tasks and thousands of work hours for Slovak Armed Forces

In response to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the Slovak Armed Forces as a guarantor of state security placed troops on standby immediately. Since then, they along other state agencies have successfully undertaken hundreds of tasks to protect Slovakia from the threats posed by the war on a 24/7 basis.

From 24 February 2022 to the end of January 2023, a total of nearly 68.000 person days of work was recorded. The main tasks included securing the green border with recce patrols and UH-60M helicopter surveillance flights, supporting the Border and Migration Police at the border checkpoints, and setting up a transition camp at the Mokraď base.

In his statement, Chief of Defence Gen Daniel Zmeko said: “The Slovak Armed Forces have significantly contributed to containing the crisis situation after the outbreak of the aggression against Ukraine and have proved to be a stable pillar of our countryʼs security and resilience thanks to their unprecedented commitment and the professionalism of their service members.”

In addition to the border operations as quantified in the person days of work above, Slovak Armed Forces service personnel have also been involved in operating the logistics hubs, reloading materiel assistance, handing hundreds of pieces of military equipment and tens of thousands of tonnes of military and humanitarian materiel over to the Ukrainian side, and ensuring the smooth movement of convoys across Slovakia to Ukraine.

Mainly in the early phase of the conflict, selected Air Defence (AD) surveillance, command and control elements were deployed and AD fire batteries took up firing positions in order to step up the protection of SVK airspace.

Alongside this, all SVK Armed Forces units quickly set about delivering “the tasks related to a higher level of force security” by enhancing the protection of military installations against potential threats.