Robert Fico’s condition has stabilised but is still “very serious” after the pro-Russian prime minister of Slovakia was shot multiple times by an assassin.

“During the night, doctors managed to stabilise the patient’s condition,” said Robert Kalinak, the deputy prime minister.

He added: “Unfortunately the condition is still very serious as the injuries are complicated.”

Mr Fico was shot multiple times by a 71-year-old man at about 2.50pm local time as he greeted a crowd after a government meeting in the Western town of Handlova.

The populist, 59, was airlifted to hospital for emergency surgery and was operated on for several hours. Sources said that at one point doctors were struggling to find the source of internal bleeding.

After fighting for his life, Mr Fico was reported to have regained consciousness after the lengthy operation on his stomach.

Tomas Taraba, Slovakia’s environment minister, told the BBC he believed Mr Fico “will survive” and is no longer in a life-threatening situation.

“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,” he said late on Wednesday.

The gunman, named locally as Juraj Cintula, was arrested at the scene. It has emerged that, as well as expressing hatred for Mr Fico, the published poet has past links to a pro-Russian group.

Mr Fico was elected for a fourth term as prime minister last year after campaigning on the platform of ending weapons donations to Ukraine.

He has also railed against Western sanctions in a country which is an EU and Nato member but has deep distrust of the military alliance.

The Kremlin on Thursday condemned the assassination attempt on Mr Fico and wished him a speedy recovery after he was shot when leaving a government meeting.

“Naturally, we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told the Izvestia newspaper. “We consider it absolutely unacceptable - this is really a great tragedy.”

“We hope that Mr Fico will be able to pull through and recover as soon as possible. We wish him a speedy recovery,” he said.

As he prepared for a visit to China, Vladimir Putin on Wednesday made the rare move of sending a telegram to Zuzana Caputova, Slovakia’s president, over the shooting.

“I was indignant to learn about the attempt on the life of the chairman of the government of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico. There can be no justification for this monstrous crime,” Putin said.

“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,” Putin said.

Russian politicians in Moscow claimed the gunman was a contract killer on Wednesday.

Leonid Slutsky, who is the chairman of the Duma’s foreign committee, said: “There is a high probability that they wanted to kill Fico because of his political views, which do not fit into the stereotypes of the hegemony of the collective West.”

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, condemned the attack as “appalling”on Wednesday. “We sincerely hope Robert Fico recovers soon and express our solidarity with the people of Slovakia,” he said.