Czech military officer: We help Ukraine a lot as citizens, but very little as state
This view was expressed by Colonel Otakar Foltýn, Deputy Chief of the Military Office of the President of the Czech Republic, in a comment to Ukrinform.
“Helping Ukraine is necessary not only in terms of stopping the Russians. How we help Ukraine also concerns our own self-respect and our understanding of fundamental values, because freedom, dignity, justice, and compassion are values shared by Ukrainians, Czechs, Estonians, Germans, and Britons alike. That is what makes us human – good people. If we are unable to help Ukraine more than we do now, it means we still do not fully understand these values. Ukrainians clearly understand them very well, and in this sense, they are greater Europeans than we are,” Foltýn said.
He believes that everyone should help Ukrainians in any way they can and do the maximum possible.
The colonel expressed regret that, in terms of assistance to Ukraine, the Czech Republic as a state ranks among the lowest, while Czech civil society and individual citizens collect some of the largest amounts of aid and donations in Europe – at least relative to the country’s population.
“We truly give a lot as citizens, but very little as a state,” the officer noted.
Foltýn said he is “convinced that this is a war of a mafia-style Russian regime against freedom, against Ukrainians, who are now the barrier between Vladimir Putin’s empire and the free world.”
He added that, as a professional military officer, he feels ashamed that he is not currently alongside the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Ukraine.
As reported earlier, a mass rally in support of Ukraine took place in the center of Prague last Saturday. Earlier this week, several events were held in the Czech capital to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including events at the Office of the President of the Czech Republic and in the Senate. The government and the lower house of parliament did not hold any such events.
