Czech government discusses possibility of transferring L-159 aircraft to Ukraine

This is reported by an Ukrinform correspondent.

Thus, the leader of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party and Speaker of the lower house of parliament, Tomio Okamura, told journalists before the meeting that he opposes both the transfer and the sale of these aircraft to Kyiv.

"I do not agree with the sale; there are factual and professional reasons. These aircraft, these types of weapons, have very low residual value, negligible compared to the purchase price. At the same time, their combat value is relatively high," Okamura cited as one of the reasons.

According to him, the aircraft would have to be purchased again later at a much higher price anyway, since there are plans to strengthen Czech air defense, for which L-159s are needed. The aircraft in question are on combat duty, the speaker recalled.

Okamura added that Defense Minister Jaromir Zuna, who is a member of the SPD, is also against selling the aircraft.

At the same time, the politician acknowledged that Czech President Petr Pavel discussed the issue with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, taking into account the position of the current authorities (which is that they do not want to spend budget funds on assistance to Ukraine), but the information about the aircraft was not supposed to become public. However, it did, and Ukrainian media partially distorted it, after which the news was reprinted by Czech media outlets.

Pavel, in turn, told journalists that the aircraft issue has been in discussion for half a year, and the matter was initially in the form of a transfer. According to him, "this time President Zelensky, given that they [the Ukrainian side] need them, proposed to buy [the aircraft]." From Pavel's perspective, as a former NATO general, this could speed up the entire process, and the sale of four aircraft out of the total 24 operated by the Czech army represents an acceptable level of risk.

As reported, earlier Pavel was criticized by Foreign Minister Petr Macinka. He noted that the government had not been informed beforehand and accused the head of state of exceeding his authority.

Petr Pavel paid a visit to Ukraine on January 15-16.

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