“President Zelensky had a big press conference yesterday that followed the meeting of top officials from various spheres of the social life of Ukraine,” recalled Ambassador Pech. “The mood is undoubtedly affected by the fact that the war has been going on for two years, on the other hand all opinion polls say that Ukrainians remain determined to continue the fight for the complete restoration of the country’s territorial integrity and pre-war borders,” he noted.
“The war is a modern war, which means that no place in Ukraine is completely behind the scenes. So we know from the news and from reality that The Russians continue to attack Ukrainian targets far behind the front lines.” pointed out the ambassador.
Exhausting war and lack of ammunition and people
However, the situation in the three frontline areas is different from the situation in Kyiv – also regarding the weight of wartime life. “What all Ukrainians have in common is the knowledge that the war is going on, that they have to somehow cope with it and try to live their normal lives. I think it’s exhausting for all of them, but they continue to deal with it very bravely in my opinion. They certainly have my great respect,” the ambassador said in the Blesk studio.
“Since the end of last year, Ukraine has been in a situation where a number of circumstances are difficult for it – this is one of them, the lack of ammunition. Another moment is the issue of restoring human strength, i.e. mobilizing more men into the Ukrainian army. The amendment of the mobilization laws is currently being discussed in the Ukrainian parliament,” the ambassador continues.
The Ukrainians need both ammunition and a fresh army, notes Pech. “Ukraine needs both ammunition and to have an army that will have fresh forces, because those who are at the front have in many cases been there for the past two years,” he noted, finding reserves and allowing existing units to rotate.
Disappointment of Ukrainians
“Ukrainians feel disappointed, and President Zelenskyi said so yesterday during the press conference, that the aid in the form of ammunition and arms deliveries is not continuous and it is obvious that Ukraine is starting to run out of ammunition,” Pech points out that Ukrainians are watching the discussion of military aid in the US Congress with great emotional strain.
The president complained about the lack of aid for Ukraine Peter Paul at the Munich Security Conference, however, where he spoke about the fact that the Czech Republic discovered the possibility of supplying ammunition to Ukraine in countries outside the EU. “The initiative of the President of the Republic received a lot of attention here,” noted the Czech ambassador, saying that negotiations on supplies are now underway.
Thanks to the Czech Republic for the help
Ambassador Pech considers the relations between the Czech Republic and Ukraine to be stronger. “I think definitely,” he said for Blesk. “Every step of the way, I encounter the fact that Ukrainians are grateful for our help and are very aware of it, no matter where I come to the smallest place, we encounter it,” continued Pech, who has been working in Ukraine for four months and is convinced that helping Ukraine is definitely worth it. Picked up not only the help of the Czech government, but also individuals and organizations.
According to him, the plan is this year joint meeting of the Czech and Ukrainian governments in the Czech Republic, which should take place in the summer.
Several member countries of NATO and the European Union are considering sending their troops to Ukraine based on bilateral agreements with the Eastern European country. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico declared today. Before going to a meeting of statesmen in Paris, where they will discuss support for Ukraine, he added that Slovakia will not involve this project. Due to the Paris negotiations, today Fico called an extraordinary meeting of the State Security Council and the Cabinet.
The Speaker of the Slovak Chamber of Deputies, Peter Pellegrini, also stated, that one of the topics of the Paris meeting will be the possibility for states to send their soldiers to this country along with military equipment based on a bilateral agreement with Ukraine. He referred to them as operating the equipment.
Tuesday’s summit of the Visegrad Four (V4 – Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary) in Prague will show whether the V4 still makes sense or not, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in connection with the ambiguous positions of Bratislava and Budapest on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Today, according to the Polish news agency PAP, Tusk said that he was shocked by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s speech on the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
According to AFP, the head of the Polish government concluded that “no compromise” was possible with the reluctance of the heads of the Hungarian and Slovak governments to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. “It is paradoxical that such ambiguous signals are coming from Budapest and Bratislava when it comes to Putin and Russia.” he said according to PAP.
Tusk will meet with Orbán and Fico on Tuesday in Prague at a summit called by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala on the occasion of the start of the Czech presidency of the V4.
For the time being, Germany will not supply modern Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this at the DPA editor-in-chief’s conference today, citing the risk of Germany’s involvement in a war with Russia. The missiles, which belong to the most modern equipment of the German army, have a range of up to 500 kilometers. Thus, Moscow could also become a target, which Germany fears.
“We will not engage in war, either directly or indirectly. These principles guide all my decisions,” said Scholz. He added that Germany will continue to be among the biggest arms supporters of Ukraine.
The chancellor emphasized that Germany cannot proceed in the case of target control like the British and French, who provided the Ukrainian military with long-range Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles. “Anyone who has dealt with the system knows that,” he said of the Tauruses.
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