Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is no longer in a life-threatening condition after he was shot in an assassination attempt when leaving a government meeting on Wednesday, a government minister said.
The gunman shot Mr Fico, 59, five times, initially leaving the prime minister in a critical condition and undergoing surgery hours later on Wednesday evening.
"I was very shocked ... fortunately as far as I know the operation went well - and I guess in the end he will survive ...he's not in a life-threatening situation at this moment," Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC's Newshour.
Mr Taraba said one bullet went through Mr Fico's stomach and a second hit a joint.
News outlet Aktuality.sk cited an unnamed source saying Mr Fico was out of surgery and in a stable condition.
Defence Minister Robert Kalinak told a news briefing hours earlier that Mr Fico had suffered "serious polytrauma" after several shot wounds.
Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok had said earlier that Mr Fico was in a life-threatening condition while he remained in the operating room.
"This assassination (attempt) was politically motivated and the perpetrator's decision was born closely after the presidential election," Sutaj Estok said, referring to an April election won by a Mr Fico ally, Peter Pellegrini.
The shooting in the central Slovak town of Handlova, which Slovak media said was carried out by a 71-year-old man, stunned the small central European nation and drew international condemnation.
Slovakia, a member of NATO and the European Union, has little history of political violence.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden joined Slovakia's EU partners in expressing shock and condemnation of the shooting.
Mr Fico, 59, was taken to hospital in the central Slovak town of Handlova where he had been chairing a government meeting.
He was then transported by helicopter to regional capital Banska Bystrica for urgent treatment, it said, adding that his condition was too serious for him to be taken to Bratislava.
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Robert Fico, populist veteran of Slovak politics
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(Above: Slovak PM being carried to car after attack)
Slovak news media reported that the gunman was a former security guard at a shopping centre.
Broadcaster TA3 reported four shots had been fired, and that the leftist prime minister had been hit in the abdomen.
Mr Fico, who returned as prime minister last October for the fourth time, has drawn criticism in some quarters for taking a more pro-Russian stance in the Ukraine war and initiating reforms of criminal law and the media which have raised concerns over the rule of law and prompted street protests.
Describing the shooting as a "monstrous" crime, Mr Putin said in a telegram sent to Slovakia's President Zuzana Caputova: "I know Robert Fico as a courageous and strong-minded man. I very much hope that these qualities will help him to survive this difficult situation."
Mr Biden offered US help to Slovakia, saying in a statement: "We condemn this horrific act of violence."
Mr Fico's close ally Lubos Blaha, deputy parliament speaker and deputy chairman of the prime minister's SMER-SSD party, blamed what he called the "liberal media" and opposition for creating an atmosphere that led to the shooting.
"For SMER-SSD, I want to sharply condemn what happened today in Handlova and at the same time express heavy disgust over what you have committed here in the past years," Mr Blaha said. "You, liberal media and political opposition. What hatred you spread against Robert Fico."
Slovakia's biggest opposition party Progressive Slovakia called off a planned protest against government public broadcaster reforms set for this evening.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said he is "deeply shocked" by the attack on Mr Fico.
"The attack on Prime Minister Fico is an attack on democracy, a fundamental value of the European Union and one we all share," Mr Harris said.
"All of our thoughts and our solidarity are with Robert, his family and the Slovakian people," he added.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, condemned what she described as a "vile attack" on Mr Fico.
"Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good. My thoughts are with PM Fico and his family," she said in a statement.
During a three-decade career, Mr Fico has moved between the pro-European mainstream and nationalistic positions opposed to EU and US policies. He has also shown a willingness to change course depending on public opinion or changed political realities.
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An admirer of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Mr Fico has grown increasingly critical of Western support for Ukraine in its war with invading Russian forces and has expressed opposition to allowing Kyiv to join NATO in the future.
Mr Fico was forced to resign as premier amid mass protests in 2018 triggered by the contract killing of Jan Kuciak, a journalist who had been investigating high-level corruption.
Those protests exacerbated divisions in Slovak society that still linger.
Slovakia's President-elect Peter Pellegrini cut short a foreign trip and is returning to the country, a spokesperson for his HLAS party said.
