Czechia running low on weapons to send Ukraine

Czechia is running low on suitable weapons to send to Ukraine, Defence Minister Jana Černochová admitted on Czech television on Sunday, the day after the speaker of the lower house had made arms promises in Kyiv.

On Saturday, parliament speakers Markéta Pekarová Adamová (TOP 09) and Miloš Vystrčil (ODS) paid tribute to the victims of the Soviet-era Ukrainian famine in Kyiv. Last year, parliament officially recognised as “genocide” the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, known as Holodomor.

The speakers of both houses of the parliament also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the head of Ukraine’s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk.

Speaking to the Ukrainian MPs in Kyiv, lower house speaker Markéta Pekarová Adamová said her country will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine.

Ukraine deserves further support because it is not only fighting for itself but also for other European democracies, the speaker of the upper house, Senate Speaker Miloš Vystrčil has said.

But suitable material is running out.

“The Czech Republic is one of the leaders in aid. But frankly, there are not many things we can send to Ukraine from military material,” Defence Minister Jana Černochová (ODS) admitted on Czech Television on Sunday.

She said the Czech Republic will try to compensate for this by granting export licences to private companies. “We do not want to jeopardise our defence capability,” she noted.

According to the minister, Czechia has free production capacities to help Ukraine through private companies, which are also known to partners abroad.

Besides weapons and support to Ukraine’s integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, training assistance is also substantial.

By the end of 2023, Czechia will have trained up to 4,000 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces as part of the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM), specifically specialists and units up to battalion level. The Czech Armed Forces have also deployed mobile training teams in Poland.

Training capacities are expected to be further expanded in 2024.

(Ondřej Plevák | Euractiv.cz)