Slovakia's Fico Accepts Kyiv Visit Invitation, Reversing EU Obstruction — Hungary Returns $82M in Seized Assets; Victory Day Parade Stripped of Military Hardware

On May 8, 2026, a series of diplomatic developments broke in Ukraine's favor. Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico — previously one of the most vocal EU critics of Ukraine support and a frequent obstructor of Ukraine's EU accession process — accepted an invitation to visit Kyiv, signaling a potential reversal of his government's position. Fico's previous visits to Moscow and cooperation with Orbán's Hungary had been a persistent obstacle to European unity on Ukraine. Meanwhile, Hungary's new pro-EU Prime Minister Péter Magyar (who defeated Viktor Orbán in the April 12 election) followed through on alignment promises by returning $82 million in previously seized assets to Ukraine's Oschadbank. The return marked one of the first concrete deliveries on Magyar's promise to end Hungary's obstruction of EU Ukraine policy. Separately, Russia's annual May 9 Victory Day military parade in Moscow was conducted without tanks, missiles, jets, or other heavy military hardware for the first time in nearly two decades — due to fears of Ukrainian long-range drone and missile attacks on the parade. Mobile internet and text messaging across Moscow were shut down as a security measure. Western analysts saw the hardware-free parade as a symbolic demonstration of how Ukraine's deep-strike campaign had altered Russian domestic security calculus.