Czechia has sent military materiel worth CZK7.3bn (€0.3bn) to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, the Czech Press Agency (CTK) reported on  the occasion of the 1,000^th day of the invasion.

The military materiel is delivered in a classified manner and the last time the Czech government released the breakdown of the materiel sent to Ukraine was in October, when it was comprised eight aircraft, 62 tanks, 131 infantry armoured vehicles, 26 chemical vehicles and 16 vehicles of anti-aircraft defence systems, (CTK) noted.  

CTK recalled that Czechia is also leading an initiative, in cooperation with Denmark, the Netherlands and other countries, delivering artillery ammunition to Ukraine through purchases inside and outside the EU. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told CTK earlier that 500,000 pieces of large-calibre ammunition are due to be delivered to Ukraine by the end of this year and that the initiative should stay in place next year as well.

Despite its strong role in the supply of arms to Ukraine, Fiala's government faces criticism for not doing enough to cut the amount of Russian energy imports since the invasion, thereby indirectly financing Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's war effort. 

Czechia was criticised in the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) report last month for having spent €7bn on Russian gas and oil imports since February 2022, or five times more than the €1.29bn Czechia spent on aid to Ukraine during the same period.

In November, Russian gas imports spiked sharply, CTK reported quoting Net4Gas transit data, according to which more than 95% of gas imports came into the country from the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline across Slovakia, through where mostly Russian gas imports flow.  

The government says the imports are the commercial decision of energy importers.

The country continues to struggle to eradicate decades of its Russian energy dependency but anticipates a major milestone next year when the TAL Plus oil pipeline enhancement project is set to be completed, freeing it from Russian crude deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline.

As Czechia commemorates the 1,000^th day of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the 35^th anniversary of the November 1989 protests that led to the fall of communism in then-Czechoslovakia, paving the way for the departure of Soviet troops from Czechia and Slovakia, the head of the Czech counterintelligence BIS, general Michal Koudelka, told the Czech parliament that Russian security services will continue their operations against Czechia and other European countries even if the war in Ukraine ends.

“Representatives of Russia and their allies will speak here about economic diplomacy, energy and commodities prices, the need to make a thick line behind the past, etc.,” Koudelka stated at the parliamentary conference entitled “Soviet and Russian subversion activity against Europe”.

“Of course, it will be necessary to establish, maintain and develop contacts with Russia, to deal and do business with [Russia], but in a way so we do not resign on our own security and on what we have achieved in the last couple of years in the field,” Koudelka was quoted as saying by CTK.  

During his address, he also warned that peace in Ukraine is not foreseeable now and that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea mutually support each other, with “Russian intelligence services playing a very significant role in the formation of an axis of evil”.