Czechia to help strengthen Ukraine’s air defense against drones, says Fiala
Czechia will continue supporting Ukraine, particularly in strengthening its capabilities to counter drones.
According to Censor.NET citing Ukrinform, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said this during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on July 22.
"We agree with the Chancellor that we must keep supporting Ukraine and provide sufficient shipments of weapons so it can continue resisting," Fiala noted, thanking Germany for its significant role in the Czech initiative on ammunition.
"We also want to work together with Germany to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense, specifically countering drones that Russians use to terrorize civilians," the politician added.
Fiala emphasized plans for cooperation to enhance energy security and stressed that Czechia has ended its dependence on Russian energy supplies.
Commenting on cooperation within the Visegrád Group (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary), he acknowledged challenges mainly due to differing approaches to the key current issue, security. He pointed out that recent meetings at the level of heads of government have not taken place, calling this a "wise" decision.
"This is because we are divided by views on some key international political and security issues… How we approach support for Ukraine, pressure on Russia, and interpret Russian aggression against Ukraine," Fiala explained, noting Slovakia’s and Hungary’s positions differ from those of Czechia and Poland.
He believes there is no more important topic than security. If there are disagreements in this area, it becomes a real obstacle to normal cooperation.
At the same time, Fiala said Czechia is ready to cooperate pragmatically on specific issues in other formats.
"For me, it is important to create coalitions on specific topics that have a chance of success," the Czech politician said.
He noted that if cooperation on supporting Ukraine works well with countries like the Netherlands and Denmark, Prague pursues it.
