Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said that the Czech government will release up to an additional CZK 400 million worth of weapons to Ukraine as it struggles to repulse a Russian invasion. The request for more weapons was expressed by the Ukrainian President. “Zelenskyj asked me for specific weapons and military equipment. I found out that we can provide,” said Fiala. Defence Minister Jana Černochová (ODS) said the Czech Republic will donate 30,000 pistols, 7,000 assault rifles, 3,000 machine guns, several dozen rifles for snipers and about a million rounds of ammunition. On Saturday the Czech Republic sent Ukraine machine guns, submachine guns, sniper rifles, pistols and ammunition worth 188 million crowns. Mr. Fiala said the democratic world must stand strong and united in the face of this aggression. He said the latest developments in Ukraine showed the importance of investing the required 2 percent of GDP into defense which the Czech Republic was committed to fulfilling by 2025. The Czech prime minister said isolating Russia would be costly, but Europe must be prepared the price for future European security. “The blackest scenario is happening. It’s an attack on the whole of Ukraine, that’s scary. It’s a terrible situation,” he...
Let’s treat Ukraine as a NATO member. An attack on a free country is an attack on all of us. We have a moral obligation to use the economy as a weapon to its fullest extent, no matter what it costs us. We call on all economists in the world to participate. We have just seen Russia invade another country right before our eyes. And not with dubious background media or political manipulations to which Putin has resorted to this day, but with full military force. By any standard, this is an insane, senseless attack. They are shelling a country that does not want to be shelled. And why? Because Ukraine has ceased to be Putin’s puppet since 2014. He bit them once then, laughing and mocking the advanced word, and now he has whetted his appetite and is biting a second time – with full force. We have a moral duty to wage full-scale economic warfare. This is a full-scale attack; we must retaliate in full. The current sanctions will not make Putin give in. We are no longer negotiating, Russia has turned out to be a state terrorist. We have been attacked, NATO or not. We should use...
Of the two trains that Czech Railways dispatched to Přemyšl near the Polish-Ukrainian border on Friday, one will return to the Czech Republic on Saturday. The Ministry of Interior’s Refugee Facilities Administration (SUZ) will support them with free accommodation. More than 120,000 people have already fled Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. Many Ukrainian families living in the Czech Republic are driving to the border to pick up their families there. The second train dispatched to help Ukrainian refugees stays in Přemyšl for the time being and will be used operationally according to the further development of the humanitarian situation on the ground, said Czech Railways (ČD) spokesman Petr Šťáhlavský. According to ČD’s Deputy Director for Passenger Transport, Jiří Ješeta, most of the refugees want to move mainly to Krakow, Katowice and Warsaw. Therefore ČD has agreed with Polish colleagues that they can use the Czech train for the refugees’ journey to the above-mentioned Polish stations. The first train should arrive in Bohumín after 15:00, and from there will continue to other Czech cities, such as Břeclav, Olomouc and Prague. In addition to special trains, the state carrier has since Friday also allowed free transport on its trains to Ukrainian...
The Czech government approved on Saturday sending weapons and ammunition worth 188 million crowns to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s attack, the Czech Defence Ministry said. The shipment, which includes machine guns, assault rifles and other light weapons, will be delivered by the Czech side to a location picked by Ukraine, the ministry said. Moreover, the Czech Republic is calling on EU states that are members of the International Investment Bank (IIB) and the International Bank for Economic Co-operation (IBEC) to quit the Soviet-era institutions which count Russia as their largest shareholder. The Czech Finance Ministry said in a statement on Friday that as part of actions to punish Russia for its attack on Ukraine, the Czechs would speed up their planned departure from the IIB, which moved its headquarters to Budapest from Moscow in 2019, and the Moscow-based IBEC. Machine guns, submachine guns, sniper rifles, pistols and ammunition worth 7.6 million EUR. This morning, the Czech government approved further military assistance to Ukraine, which is under attack by Russia. Our aid and support continues.#SupportUkraine — Ministerstvo obrany (@ObranaTweetuje) February 26, 2022 Yesterday, the Czech Republic banned Russian airlines from flying to the central European country from Saturday and...
Sberbank CZ, a subsidiary of Sberbank Europe, on Friday halted operations at all 25 offices in the Czech Republic over security concerns, according to the Czech national television. On Thursday, Western countries, including the United States, imposed sanctions against Sberbank in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. The bank closed its offices on Friday at 2:00 p.m. Long queues of people gathered near the offices of Sberbank CZ in attempts to withdraw money from ATMs amid the sanctions. Czech government mulling unilateral sanctions against Russia The Czech government is discussing a series of unilateral sanctions against Russia to complement those that will be introduced by the European Union, Interior Minister Vít Rakušan told a session of the upper chamber on Friday. Minister Rakušan said he would propose that the government earmark 1.5 billion crowns to finance the cost of accommodating Ukrainian war refugees. He said that in the first stage of the operation the country was ready to take in 5,000 refugees. The Senate is holding an extraordinary session at which it wants to approve a resolution condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The Czech Republic will also ban all Russian air operators from using its airspace.
The Czech Republic will probably ban all Russian air operators from using its airspace, the agency Ria Novosti reports. The move will be the second of its kind in the European Union. In fact, Poland already banned all Russian air operators, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has announced. “I have ordered the Cabinet of Ministers to prepare a decree which will result in the closing of Polish airspace for all Russian airlines,” he declared in a Facebook post. Poland is an important transit country for Russian airlines on most of their westbound flights. As they are not allowed to overfly Ukraine, Belarus, and south-western Russia due to the ongoing military activities accompanying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they have been forced to take a detour via Poland. Direct services between Russia and Poland are operated by Aeroflot (from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Warsaw Chopin) and LOT Polish Airlines (from Warsaw to Sheremetyevo and St. Petersburg). While Aeroflot will no longer be allowed to serve Poland once the ban enters into force, LOT continues to schedule services to both Russian cities. Britain has already banned Russia’s Aeroflot from flying to the UK — a move which saw Russia retaliate with a tit-for-tat ban on British Airways and blocking British airlines from...
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and called for the toughest sanctions to be imposed on the country for its transgressions. In a speech on Thursday, Fiala slammed the “unprovoked invasion” of Ukraine by Russia, calling it an “act of aggression against a sovereign state” which must not go unanswered. “I condemn the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Fiala said, who called on “all Czech citizens in Ukraine to leave the country.” “Our country is not in immediate danger,” he assured concerned citizens, highlighting Czechia’s membership of the European Union and of NATO as primary reasons for its national security. “I will head to the European Council session in Brussels, where I will push for the toughest possible sanctions against Russia,” he added. “We will thoroughly discuss the effects of the aggression and our reaction to it,” Fiala vowed. “I convened the State Security Council, which will address the country’s security in the current situation, preparations for further development, and coordination of further action,” he added. On Thursday morning, the Czech Foreign Ministry warned against any trips to Ukraine and called on Czech citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. Air traffic between the Czech Republic and Ukraine...
A few hours after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, the Czech City of Brno began taking steps to assist the local community of Ukrainians and those who will be forced to flee their country. In addition to discussing how it can provide financial and humanitarian assistance, the municipality further addressed its partnerships with Russian cities. “As an act of solidarity with Ukraine, we also voted at the council today to terminate partnership agreements with Russian cities, specifically Moscow and Voronezh,” revealed the Mayor of Brno Markéta Vaňková. In a press release, the City of Brno reported that it will send CZK 10 million to help the citizens of Ukraine. Taking this further, it will turn to the Ukrainian embassy to seek ways in which it can most effectively use the money directly in the country. Beyond this, Mayor Vaňková explained that she will contact the mayors and leaders of all city districts, companies, and contributory organizations to check their housing stock. In other words, Brno will search for ways in which it can provide those fleeing war zones with temporary accommodation. Meeting with Ukrainian Consul Anna Proshko on 23 February, Mayor Vaňková further discussed humanitarian aid in the form of medical materials, which...
Martin Dlouhý, professor at the University of Economics in Prague is refusing to teach any Russian student as he launches his “own sanctions against Russia”. The representative of TOP 09, has launched his own sanctions against Russia when he wrote on social networks that he refused to teach Russian students. He later deleted the post. “Because of conscience and moral principles: I will not conduct Russian bachelor’s or master’s theses. I will not teach Russian students. I will not correct their tests,” he wrote on Facebook in a status that later disappeared. Dlouhý admitted the authenticity of the statement, as well as the fact that he wrote it upset by the night and morning events in Ukraine. “I was upset in the morning and wrote down my emotional status,” he said, adding that he had a lot of Russian students. “No one has to worry about being thrown out of the classroom,” he said in the afternoon. He eventually removed this status from Facebook after he began to show negative reactions. “They accused me of using collective guilt,” he said. But he didn’t want that, he said. The chairwoman of the TOP 09, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, and the chairman of...
Thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing war with Russia and started arriving into neighboring countries, mainly Moldova and Romania, while an estimated 100,000 have fled their homes and are uprooted in the country after the invasion, the UN refugee agency said Thursday. The countries on the European Union’s eastern flank, once part of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact and now members of NATO, are bracing for many more Ukrainians, setting up reception points and sending troops towards the borders to provide assistance. Among them, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania all share land borders with Ukraine. ‘If Russia continues down this path, it could, according to our estimates, create a new refugee crisis – one of the largest facing the world today – with as many as five million more people displaced by Russia’s war of choice and putting pressure on Ukraine’s neighbors,’ US Ambassador to the United Nation Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned Wednesday. Russia has launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two, fueling fears of a massive flood of refugees fleeing Ukraine, a nation of 44 million people. At least 68 people were killed and 169 were wounded on Thursday, Ukraine’s...
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. Thousands of people gathered in central Prague on Thursday evening to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The demonstration Prague Stands Behind Ukraine! took place on the upper part of the city’s Wenceslas Square. Ukrainians living in the Czech Republic can reckon with a possible extension of their stay permit over the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said. The Czech Republic has prepared plans for the acceptance of thousands of refugees, but would not specify the number. In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine the Prague Stock Exchange fell on Thursday to its lowest level since the start of November. On Thursday morning, the Czech currency fell to its weakest levels in two months against the euro and the dollar, losing tens of cents. Against the euro, it was above CZK 25 per euro, and against the dollar, it was above CZK 22.20 per dollar. Brno City Council has approved a package of support for 21 non-profit organisations dedicated to crime prevention, totalling CZK 3.456...
The Czech Republic will close Russian consulates in the country and stop issuing visas to Russians apart from humanitarian cases, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Thursday. The country will close two Russian consulates in Brno, and Karlovy Vary and also shut its consulates in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg in Russia, Fiala said. He said the government would also call home its ambassadors to Russia and Belarus for consultations. The moves come after Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday in the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two. Moreover, the minister of the interior, Vít Rakušan, said that the country had a plan in place to take in many thousands of refugees from Ukraine. The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, has called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “crime against peace” and that he had been mistaken in recently saying he believed Russia would not carry out an attack, calling the Kremlin’s move “irrational”. People will gather on Prague’s Wenceslas Square this evening at 5 pm to express their support for Ukraine following the Russian attack.
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