Babis confirms Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine will continue

He told this to journalists after a meeting of the National Security Council and a discussion with President Petr Pavel, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We have come to the conclusion that we will continue with this initiative either as an intermediary or through companies that have the necessary know-how, but we will no longer continue making financial contributions," Babis said.

At the same time, he added that the government will keep studying the situation, as it believes not everything regarding the initiative was previously fully transparent. Therefore, the authorities will return to this issue again.

He also added that ahead of the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris, he discussed the matter with his coalition partner, leader of the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party and speaker of the lower house of parliament, Tomio Okamura, who had strongly opposed continuing the initiative. According to Babis, Okamura is generally not against the initiative as long as the Czech Republic does not pay for it at all.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Petr Fiala, one of the authors of the ammunition initiative, said the new government does not want to take part in it; it merely allows it to continue.

"This is a shame, because this initiative was a major foreign policy success for our government and for the whole country. […] Sooner or later, the alibi and lack of seriousness of our new foreign policy will pay off.. In diplomacy, you cannot demand everything from your partners and give nothing in the long term. Ukraine needs our help, and those who do not see this are helping Russia," Fiala wrote on X.

As reported, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis earlier stated that Prague could continue its participation in the so-called Czech ammunition initiative, but will not pay for ammunition for Ukraine from the state budget.