Czech foreign minister on the future supply of shells, Ukraine's toughness and Trump

European Pravda previously interviewed Jan Lipavský in February 2022, just two weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Czech Foreign Minister was among the Western officials visiting Ukraine daily back then, but those efforts could not prevent the outbreak of a full-scale war. 

Unlike many European politicians, however, Lipavský came to Ukraine in February 2022 with more than words of support. Anticipating the invasion, Czechia was one of the first countries to start supplying Ukraine with artillery shells. 

Now, in 2024, a significant portion of large-calibre ammunition deliveries once again involves Prague. The so-called Czech Initiative is collecting ammunition worldwide to sustain the combat capabilities of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. 

The minister has good news about the continuation of this effort. 

Watch more in the interview of Jan Lipavský with Sergiy Sydorenko, the European Pravda editor, or read the full version in the article - "We need to be tough on Trump. That’s what the world respects."

We need to continue to support Ukraine. Because it's not only about Ukraine, it's about what is allowed in this world. It is, basically, about whether imperial war for territory is allowed in the 21st century.

Now with Biden's administration providing the rest of the agreed support to Ukraine, for a period of time Ukraine will have those resources at its disposal.

And if there is a discontinuation of this help, then Europe must step in.

It won't be easy for Europe, but Europe will be pushed by the new administration to spend more on defence. This might be part of that.

If we want to show Donald Trump that we are tough, we have to be ready to do so.

We will need to convince Trump's team that the war between Russia and Ukraine is not only about Russia and about Ukraine. This is a global affair with implications for food security, and implications for Indo-Pacific security. Especially now, with North Korean soldiers also attacking the Ukrainian army. This is something we really need to be able to explain and act on accordingly.

Putin made himself some kind of axis of evil – with Tehran, Pyongyang and economic enablement by China. China is allowing economically the whole thing to go on. We are quite aware of that.

But now we know that the story is different. We are in a phase of de-globalisation now. The new blocs are emerging.

We don't know what the boundaries exactly are.

There are some contests going on, so I would describe it as a global confrontation. That's the way I would describe the current phase.

We know one thing about Donald Trump: he is a tough guy.

If we, as Europe, want to prove something to him, or maybe to convince him about something, we need to be tough too.

Ukraine is tough. Ukraine is so tough that it was not three days, not even three months, and now I'm sure it won’t be three years for Russia to be able to subjugate it.

This year, we promised to deliver or we proposed to the international community, if sponsored, that we can deliver half a million heavy calibre ammunition rounds to Ukraine. We will deliver.

I can tell you, we will deliver by the end of this year.

Prime Minister Fiala together with the Danish and Dutch Prime Ministers said they wanted to continue it in 2025.

We will announce the details. It's clear that Ukraine will also need ammunition in 2025. So we should continue.

But in 2025, we see a lot of ammunition around the world that is already made and which could be used for this purpose.
I understand that the situation is not easy.

I thank all the brave men and women protecting Europe on the front line in trenches.

All the other scenarios – if Ukraine collapses and is given to Russia, or subjugated by Russia – aren't good. We have to prevent it.