Prague has supplied Kiev with modernized T-72M tanks, the Wall Street Journal says
FILE PHOTO: A Czech Soviet-made T-72M tank is seen at a military show in the town of Rokycany, the Czech Republic, in 2018. © Wikipedia
The Central European nation has also reportedly supplied Kiev with howitzer artillery pieces and Soviet-made BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, the Wall Street Journal has said. The supplies had been funded by the Czech government and some private donors, who joined the government-backed crowdfunding campaign.
The western nations have been supplying Ukraine with weapons, ammunition and fuel almost since the start of the Russian military operation there in late February. Most deliveries included portable anti-tank and anti-air missiles as well as small arms so far.
Australia said earlier this week it has been flying Bushmaster armored vehicles into Europe to hand them over to Ukraine. German media also earlier reported Berlin greenlighted German self-propelled howitzer deliveries to Ukraine by some other European nations.
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NATO member states in Central and Eastern Europe are also concerned with the fact that they are virtually unable to supply Ukraine’s needs since the Ukrainian army uses as much weaponry as it receives from the western nations in a week, as an unidentified Polish official put it in conversation with the WSJ.
Some European nations like Slovenia, which has been eager to support Ukraine, have virtually depleted their own stocks, the WSJ reports. Now, its prime minister, Janez Jansa, says that his nation’s western allies are in no rush to refill these stocks.
“Unfortunately, our reserves are depleted and now we try to replace equipment…with new delivery from US,” he has said, adding that “all procedures were slow” and only accelerated in the wake of reports from the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where Kiev has claimed civilians were killed by the Russian forces. Moscow has denied all such allegations and accused the Ukrainian authorities of launching a fake news campaign to discredit Russia’s military effort.
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Now, according to the WSJ, the Central European governments, including the Czech Republic, are considering a possibility of offering their facilities to Ukraine to repair its damaged military equipment.
“If the war is going to get longer and longer, the war equipment that is being damaged needs to get serviced,” a Czech defense ministry official has told the WSJ, adding that “Ukrainian repair houses are 100% busy, and they are asking other nearby allies to help them with repairs.”
Earlier, Russia has warned that it would consider arms deliveries to Ukraine legitimate military targets but has never targeted any arms convoys outside of the Ukrainian territory so far. It has not commented on a potential response to the European nations providing their equipment repair depots to Ukraine.
