The Czech Republic has sent 725 million euros in weapons aid to Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022, while it received 1,04 billion euros in return through refunds from European Union (EU) and NATO funds and as a gift from allies, outgoing Czech Prime Minister Petr Fijala announced today.
The aid sent by the Czech Republic includes old post-Soviet weapons and military equipment from warehouses that the Czech Republic would have scrapped anyway, 390 pieces of which include tanks, helicopters, and combat vehicles, and it also financed the training of 10.000 Ukrainian soldiers.
In return, this assistance in weapons was partially refunded, but it was as if it was acquiring new weapons from NATO funds, which were used in the same way and thus earned by the United States of America (USA) and other members, and from EU funds, and it also received weapons as gifts from allies, for example from Germany in exchange for old Leopard tanks sent to Ukraine.
Fijala said that within the international initiative "Ammunition for Ukraine" launched by the Czech Republic, 1,3 million pieces of artillery ammunition have already been provided this year, while the plan is to provide 1,8 million by the end of the year.
In this initiative, Czech intermediaries seek artillery ammunition in third countries, including Serbia, which is then paid for by wealthy Western countries from the initiative and given to Ukraine.
Prime Minister Fijala said that the Czech Republic invested 70 million euros in the initiative and purchased ammunition from a Czech manufacturer, while other partners in the initiative invested 3,8 billion euros in the purchase of ammunition.
Criticism of the "Ammunition for Ukraine" initiative and arms aid to Ukraine was one of the main topics of the campaign before the parliamentary elections on October 3 and 4, when extremists, most notably radical nationalists from the Freedom and Direct Democracy party, but also the winning ANO party of likely future Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, accused Fijala's government of having no money for the Czechs, and everything was allegedly being given to the Ukrainians.
After the election, Babiš said that he would no longer send a single crown directly from the budget for weapons to Ukraine, even though the Czech Republic receives more in military aid than it gives.
While he announced before the elections that he would withdraw the Czech Republic from the Ammunition for Ukraine initiative, Babiš has now changed tack and claims that it is a good initiative, but it must be ensured that it is transparent and that Czech arms dealers do not get rich at the expense of Ukrainians.
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