Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is in stable but serious condition on Thursday after being shot multiple times in an assassination attempt a day earlier, a hospital official said.
Doctors are continuing to treat Fico in an attempt to improve his condition, Defense Minister Robert Kalinak told reporters outside the hospital in Banska Bystrica.
The government says five shots were fired at Fico on Wednesday outside a cultural center where he was meeting with supporters.
His deputy prime minister said he believed Fico would survive.
“I guess in the end he will survive,” Tomas Taraba told the BBC, adding: “He’s not in a life threatening situation at this moment.”
Doctors fought for Fico's life several hours after the pro-Russian leader, 59, was hit in the abdomen, Kalinak told reporters at the hospital where Fico was being treated.