The donation of the S-300 anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence system resonated strongly with the public. Slovakia donated the anti-aircraft set, including spare parts and ammunition, on the basis of a government resolution from April 2022. Its residual value was nearly 69 million euros.

Regarding financial and security significance, other critical military materials donated to Ukraine were MiG-29 fighter jets and KUB anti-aircraft launchers, which had a book value of around half a billion euros. The government approved the decision to donate this surplus military equipment in March 2023, with the decision being taken by the cabinet, which was in resignation. In this context, the auditors identified a risk linked to the constitutional mandate of the government in resignation to donate military equipment to another state. According to the statements of the ministry's staff and in the context of the documentation submitted, the Ministry of Defence did not have any analysis assessing, from the point of view of constitutional law, the competence of the government to conclude inter-state agreements in a situation where the cabinet has lost the confidence of the parliament and the government was only temporarily entrusted with the exercise of functions with limited powers. The SAO believes that the Constitutional Court should resolve this competence dispute with a view to the future.

The process of donation of military movable property was accompanied by procedural and also significant administrative shortcomings. The audit revealed inconsistencies in the data on donated assets reported by the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff. There was also a discrepancy between the aid agreed upon by the Government and the value of the assets eventually donated to Ukraine. Thirteen resolutions were adopted by the government between 2022 and 2023, according to which assets worth €666 million were to be donated. In reality, the value of the aid was higher by more than 30 million, according to the documents submitted and audited by the auditors. For most of the resolutions, the Cabinet approved only the financial amount of the donated assets and not a specific list of equipment or materials to be transferred to Ukraine. 

"Going forward, it is essential that the government, led by the prime minister, receives comprehensive information from the submitter because otherwise even well-intentioned assistance can be chaotic, non-transparent and the actions of those responsible can be on the edge of legal obligations. In several cases, representatives of the armed forces have sent assistance beyond the scope of the government-approved resolution. This is an example of managerial failure and chaos, from which people from the Ministry of Defence, as well as the General Staff, must learn a lesson," says Ľ. Andrassy. This shortcoming has ultimately had a negative impact on the total amount that Slovakia claims under the European peacekeeping reimbursement programme.

Auditors also examined new military material and equipment purchases in 2022 and 2023. "Some of the purchases were purposely made with the explanation that they were for the needs of the Slovak army, whereas the real reason was the interest in the purchased material being marked as surplus and donated to Ukraine. For example, the purchase of artillery mines and cartridges in the amount of almost 9 million euros, while the contract with a company was carried out over one weekend," the chairman of the national auditors said. He also adds that the defence ministry bought ammunition several years old and unusable in the conditions of the armed forces. In this case, according to the national external audit authority, the ministry's employees violated the law on public administration budget rules and may have violated their duties in managing property. The Office will refer these findings to the law enforcement authorities.

In March 2021, the Council of the EU decided to establish an extra-budgetary European Peace Facility (EPF), which allows financing activities with military or defence implications. It is a "living" instrument built on the agreement of member states, whose rules can be operationally adjusted. The current application of its settings is suspended due to objections raised by Hungary. Under the current rules, Slovakia has requested reimbursement of the price of donated assets amounting to €327 million, which is approximately half of the accounting amount of the donated equipment and military material. So far, our country has received 82 million from the European reimbursement instrument. One of the rules of the EPF is that only those activities based on Ukraine's requirements and bilaterally agreed will be reimbursed. The checking of the eligibility of national reimbursement requests is carried out on an ongoing basis by the European Commission and the final amount that Slovakia can receive is therefore still open.