Czech President Petr Pavel said his country could sell Ukraine L-159 small combat aircraft to strengthen its air defenses, but his government does not support the idea.
This is reported by the media outlet Ceske Noviny.
According to the Czech President, the possible sale of four L-159 aircraft to Ukraine will not undermine his countryʼs defense capabilities. He previously said that the Ukrainian side had offered to purchase L-159 aircraft from the Czech Republic.
"Iʼm afraid that with this decision [not to transfer the planes to Ukraine] we are moving more towards selfishness than solidarity," Pavel emphasized.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the final decision on this remains with the government.
Meanwhile, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said that his country will neither sell nor provide Ukraine with anti-drone aircraft for free. He explains this by saying that the Czech Armed Forces need the L-159s, and there are no other alternatives yet.
Babis added that this should not be decided by politicians, but by the military, who need these aircraft and will serve them until 2040.
The speaker of the lower house of the Czech parliament Tomio Okamura stated that although the L-159s themselves are quite cheap, they have great combat potential. Therefore, the potential sale will not be able to compensate for the loss of combat aircraft.
The coalitionʼs decision means that in the near future, the Czech Republic will not transfer its L-159s to Ukraine, despite Kyivʼs request and previous signals about Pragueʼs possible willingness to consider such a step.
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