This statement comes as debates unfold regarding Western-imposed restrictions on weapon usage, with Lipavsky admitting that Prague’s allies supplying Ukraine with advanced weaponry face “strategic dilemmas.”
Speaking on the second day of the Globsec security conference held in Prague, the Czech Foreign Minister acknowledged that there are “many difficulties and disadvantages” for allies to have a unified stance.
“The Czech Republic has a very straightforward position: Ukraine is the victim of aggression, and according to the UN Charter, the aggressor has the right to defend itself,” Lipavsky told Radio Free Europe.
“This defense logically can also be carried out on the aggressor’s territory. This means that the Czech Republic has no restrictions regarding the systems, weapons, or ammunition it supplies to the Ukrainian military,” he said.
Czech President Petr Pavel and the outgoing EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, declared the day before against lifting the restrictions on how Ukraine can use the provided weapons.
With the United States and Germany reportedly imposing such restrictions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged them and others to take “decisive steps” to allow Ukraine to target within Russian territory with the weapons provided by the West.
Earlier this month, Ukraine launched an offensive into Russian territory, and Zelensky stated that Russia “needs to feel what it has done.”
“On the other hand,” Lipavsky said, “let’s be realistic that the most advanced weapon systems, which might have long ranges, or simply put, these supplies do not come from the Czech Republic. This means we are not facing the dilemmas that some of our allies are.”
Russian airstrikes have damaged Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and other infrastructure and have caused a high number of civilian casualties over the past two and a half years of war.
