Czechia will continue to support Ukraine, particularly in strengthening its ability to counter drones. This was stated by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on July 22.
“We agree with the Chancellor that we must continue to support Ukraine and ensure it receives sufficient deliveries of weapons so it can keep resisting,” Fiala said, thanking Germany for its major involvement in the Czech ammunition initiative. “We also want to work together with Germany to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense, particularly in countering drones with which the Russians are terrorizing civilians,” the prime minister added.
He also emphasized plans for cooperation in boosting energy security, noting that Czechia has eliminated its dependence on Russian energy resources.
Fiala commented on cooperation within the Visegrád Group (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary), acknowledging it is currently difficult, primarily due to differing approaches to key security issues. He pointed out that there have been no recent meetings at the level of heads of government, calling this “reasonable.”
“Because we differ on some key international political and security issues… including our stance on supporting Ukraine, applying pressure on Russia, and how we interpret Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Fiala said, explaining that Slovakia and Hungary’s positions differ from those of Czechia and Poland.
In his view, there is currently no more important issue than security. And if there are discrepancies in this area, it becomes a real obstacle to normal cooperation.
At the same time, Fiala noted that Czechia remains ready to cooperate pragmatically on specific issues in other formats.
“For me, it is important to create coalitions around concrete topics that have a real chance of success,” said the Czech prime minister. He added that if supporting Ukraine means successful cooperation with countries like the Netherlands and Denmark, then Prague is doing just that.
