The Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský said on Sunday that according to available information, Russian troops are not withdrawing from the border with Ukraine and the number of troops is increasing to 200,000.
The Foreign Ministry is also preparing further medical aid to Ukraine amounting to CZK 10 million. At the same time, Lipavský again called on Czechs not to travel to Ukraine.
According to Lipavský, the Ministry is setting up two working groups, one to deal with the assessment of the situation in Ukraine, the other with humanitarian aid. “It will be medical humanitarian aid. We are already finalizing it. When everything is signed and ready, we will inform you about it,” he added.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) also spoke about humanitarian aid on Sunday. “If the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, we will send other CZK 100 million”.
“We are committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will continue to provide Ukraine the support it needs,” he added.
In a Sunday interview with Czech Television, Fiala said he still believes a peaceful solution can be found to the Russian build-up on the Ukrainian border.
“The whole EU is united in this and that’s new. We know that in our recent history, the past decade, our positions may have differed slightly, for example, due to different economic interests, or historic ones.
“We have a negative experience. Then there are the Baltic States, which are directly exposed to risk. These stances were varied, France and Germany sometimes had moments when they were cautious and more open to negotiating with Russia and enforcing lighter sanctions. Today, our stance is completely united and I don’t think that President Putin counted on that.”
Lipavský appealed to Czech citizens to be careful about disinformation regarding the situation in Ukraine. “Russia is producing a whole range of falsified information, creating scenarios that would allow it to somehow justify possible Russian aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
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