Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot in what officials are calling an assassination attempt.
On Wednesday evening, the Slovak defence minister said Fico had been in surgery for three-and-a-half hours and was "fighting for his life".
Fico was reportedly hit in the stomach, arm and leg - the interior minister says he was shot five times.
The alleged assailant has been detained by the police - the ministers tell reporters it was a politically-motivated attack.
Fico was wounded as he left a government meeting in the central town of Handlova.
A video showed several men rushing to detain the suspect just outside the cultural centre in Handlova. The BBC has not yet verified the footage.
In her initial reaction to the shooting, Slovakia's outgoing president Zuzana Caputova said she was shocked by the "brutal and ruthless" attack on the prime minister and wished him strength to recover.
Mr Fico returned to power in Slovakia after elections last September, at the head of a populist-nationalist coalition.
