The Czech Republic refused to sell its aircraft to Ukraine

The Czech Republic will not sell Ukraine its domestically produced L-159 aircraft, because the Czech army needs them.

This was stated by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

Babiš said that Defense Minister Jaromír Zuna was invited to a meeting of the leaders of the ruling coalition, and he stated that there is a need to purchase new aircraft, since the service life of the existing ones has been extended until 2040. He noted that all available aircraft are in use and are not sitting idle in hangars, so the need for new aircraft remains. The prime minister also added that a similar decision on the need for aircraft was made in 2023 by the previous leadership of the Ministry of Defense.

On January 13, Babiš said that the previous government of the republic secretly supplied Ukraine with weapons worth 17.1 billion crowns (about €705 million).

According to the politician, the funds were allocated from the Czech budget to purchase weapons for Kyiv as part of a “top-secret initiative.” The prime minister accused his predecessor Petr Fiala of deliberately withholding from the public information about the expenditures and deals.

Earlier in the Czech Republic they promised to continue resisting military aid to Ukraine.