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Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has put an end to discussions about the possible supply of L-159 light combat aircraft to Ukraine, stating that Kyiv will not receive them.
This was reported by Idnes.
“There are no L-159s and there won’t be any. This is a closed issue,” Babiš was quoted as saying.
The head of the Czech government also sharply criticized the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, Karel Řehka, who had earlier publicly supported the idea of transferring the aircraft to Ukraine. “Karel Řehka would be better off keeping quiet,” Babiš said.
According to him, the general’s position contradicts statements made by Defense Minister Jaromír Zuna, who stressed the need to retain the aircraft for the needs of the Czech army.
“He must decide on his position; he has to know whom he belongs to. I don’t understand why Mr. Řehka is acting against his own minister — that’s abnormal,” the prime minister noted.
Babiš called the debate around a possible delivery of L-159s to Ukraine an artificial problem and rejected any further discussions about selling or transferring the aircraft.
Czech L-159 aircraft and Ukraine
Earlier, Czech President Petr Pavel spoke about the possible transfer of L-159 trainer-combat aircraft to Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv. He emphasized that such aircraft could be effective in combating drones.
However, the Czech government did not support this idea. Andrej Babiš has repeatedly stated that Prague does not plan either to sell or to hand over L-159 aircraft to Ukraine free of charge.
At the same time, Chief of the General Staff Karel Řehka insisted that the transfer of four aircraft would not harm the country’s defense capability and recommended that the government donate them to Ukraine.
