Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said that after the decision to provide Kiev with artillery shells, the country’s government plans to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine.
In early February, the Czech Cabinet of Ministers decided to allocate 4,000 artillery shells with a caliber of 152 millimeters worth 37 million kroons (about $1.7 million) to Ukraine as a gift.
“I don’t yet know exactly what form this will take, but our government has the political will to help Ukraine weather this crisis. Part of this effort is to change the ‘loss calculations’ for (Russian President Vladimir – ed.) Putin, so that he decides not to attack Ukraine physically,” the Czech Foreign Minister said in an interview with European Pravda, published on Friday.
According to him, there were no discussions in Czech society about whether to provide shells to Ukraine.
“Of course, people may have different opinions, but there was no political debate at all on the issue of supplying weapons to Ukraine. Therefore, I am glad that in the end the Czech Republic joined the club of states that help Ukraine in this way. As you already mentioned, this is not done all states. But we have a good club – we are there together with the USA, Great Britain, Poland, the Baltic countries,” the minister said.
Lipavsky explained that the Czech Republic is helping Ukraine because these events affect Central Europe.
“Migration is changing, economic interaction is changing. We are in close proximity, so everything that happens in your country matters to us,” the minister said.
Since 2014, the NATO countries, led by the United States, have been supplying weapons to Ukraine and training its military, which directly violates the Minsk agreements and negatively affects the settlement in Donbass. In addition to the Americans, Great Britain, Canada, France, Poland, Turkey, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, and Estonia participate in deliveries totaling billions of dollars.
Kiev and Western states have recently been constantly declaring an alleged increase in “aggressive actions” on the part of Russia near the borders of Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is moving troops within its territory and at its own discretion. According to him, it does not threaten anyone and should not worry anyone. Russia has repeatedly rejected accusations by the West and Ukraine of “aggressive actions”, stating that it does not threaten anyone and is not going to attack anyone, and statements about “Russian aggression” are used as an excuse to place more NATO military equipment near Russian borders.