The Czech Republic has raised the necessary amount of money to purchase 800,000 pieces of artillery ammunition for Ukraine, which is to be delivered in the coming weeks, Czech News Agency (ČTK) reports, citing Czech President Petr Pavel.
“As of this morning, we have collected the total amount for the purchase of all ammunition, that is, 800,000 pieces,” Pavel told reporters during a visit to the Central Bohemian region.
According to him, the next step will be to sign a memorandum between the Czech government and the 18 countries that have joined the initiative.
“Then, the Czech side will send information to all the supplier countries about the schedule and how we will act,” the Czech president said.
He refused to name the amounts received from individual countries and added that Norway has contributed the required amount.
“Now it all depends on the ability of our companies and the Ministry of Defense to speed up the whole process (of transferring ammunition – IF-U),” Pavel added.
On February 17, it was reported that the Czech Republic is looking for ammunition and weapons to supply Ukraine as soon as possible around the world, in particular, there is a possibility of supplying 500,000 155 mm and 300,000 122 mm shells from third countries within weeks if the necessary funding is received.
“Nova Poshta, the leader in express delivery in Ukraine, has opened a Nova Post post office in Brno, the third branch of the network in the Czech Republic, the company’s press service said on Friday.
“This is just the beginning of our development. Next year, we plan to open branches in 4 more Czech cities,” said Vladimir Sterenchuk, CEO of Nova Post in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
According to him, in 2024, Nova Post branches will appear in Pilsen, Ostrava, Liberec and Český Budějovice.
At the new Brno branch, customers can send and receive documents and parcels weighing up to 30 kg from Ukraine. Delivery time to Ukraine is 5 days or more.
As reported, Nova Post entered the Czech market in June and opened two branches in Prague at once – a cargo branch weighing up to 1,000 kg and a postal branch weighing up to 30 kg, and launched a courier delivery service weighing up to 1,000 kg. In 6 months, the company delivered 30 thousand items.
In mid-November, Volodymyr Popereshnyuk, co-owner of Nova Poshta, announced that Nova Post plans to enter the markets of Italy, France, and Austria by the end of this year.
As of the beginning of November, Nova Poshta’s network in Ukraine included nearly 11,000 branches and 14.6,000 post offices.
The group of companies includes Ukrainian and foreign companies, including Nova Poshta, NP Logistic, NovaPay payment system and Nova Poshta Global.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Perebyinis accepted copies of credentials from newly appointed Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Ukraine Radek Pech.
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Perebyinis highly appreciated the intensification of the political and sectoral dialogue between Ukraine and the Czech Republic, and also expressed gratitude for the Czech Republic’s continued support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The Deputy Minister thanked the Czech side for its active participation in promoting Ukraine’s foreign policy initiatives, in particular the implementation of the Peace Formula provisions, support for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the creation of legal mechanisms for bringing to justice those responsible for Russian war crimes and further strengthening of sanctions pressure on the aggressor country.
Particular attention was paid to issues of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.
This was discussed at a meeting of the Head of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine Hanna Zamazieieva with representatives of the Czech RSJ Investments Foundation and their partner company.
The Czech partners assured of their desire to help Ukraine and Ukrainian communities become less energy dependent through bioenergy projects.
The Czech Fund is considering installing biomass boilers in Ukraine. The scale of the plans is impressive: the total capacity of the boiler houses is 80 MW, and the amount of investment is more than €12 million. The ultimate goal is to ensure uninterrupted heat supply in Ukrainian hospitals and other institutions.
“Such projects as alternative fuel boiler houses are one of the most relevant solutions for Ukrainian communities. It is an opportunity to provide heat, first of all, to critical infrastructure facilities, even during energy challenges,” emphasized Hanna Zamazeyeva.
The Chairman presented the significant potential of Ukrainian bioenergy, the legislative framework and the initiatives that the Agency’s team is working on to stimulate investment in this area.
The parties went through all the obstacles faced by market participants and discussed various ways to overcome them.
As a result of the meeting, the participants agreed to consolidate efforts to develop heat production from alternative fuels and the cultivation of energy crops.
The largest private railway passenger carrier in Central Europe Czech RegioJet in partnership with Ukrzaliznytsia plans to launch in 2023 a flight Prague-Chop, and in 2024 two flights to Germany – Kiev-Berlin and Kiev-Hanover via Leipzig and Dresden, said the owner of RegioJet Radim Jančura in an interview for “Forbes Ukraine”.
“Historically, the train from Kiev to Berlin ran until 2012 and was very successful. But the German railroad at one time imposed commercial conditions that increased the cost of the train on the territory of Germany. It made the route unprofitable and the trip was closed,” – he said.
The RegioJet head said the company has optimistic expectations for this project, as many more Ukrainians travel to Germany than to the Czech Republic.
Yanchura also underlined that RegioJet has a different business model from the state operators, so UZ will not have to share the revenues with the Polish and German railroads.
Speaking about the flight to Chop, the RegioJet head noted that the company has the largest share of transportation on the popular route Prague-Kosice.
“We would like to continue this route to the Ukrainian city of Chop in Transcarpathian region, and in the future to Mukachevo,” Jančura said.
According to him, the company now agrees with “Ukrzaliznytsia” schedules and conditions, so we plan to run a new train to Chop during 2023.
Yanchura added that launching a train to Mukachevo is more difficult.
“The main obstacle is the Chop-Mukachevo track section is not electrified: it used to have a contact network, but later part of it was dismantled,” the RegioJet owner noted and added: – We are ready to electrify this section at our own expense.
The head of RegioJet did not name the cost and timing of the project. According to him, they will be known after the Ukrainian authorities and UZ will approve the technical audit and determine the scope of work.
According to him, after Ukraine joins the EU, RegioJet will be able to operate trains itself in Ukraine, having received a license.
“This is how we work in all countries of the European Union. In the EU, anyone can get access to the railway infrastructure by paying a fixed tariff,” Yanchura explained.
The RegioJet owner noted that the company relies on residents of small towns rather than the population of large cities with well-developed airports.
In addition, according to Yanchura, the company is working on the possibility of RegioJet trains, still following only to the Polish Peremyshl, to the Ukrainian border station “Mostiska-2” and plans to implement this project by the end of 2023.
“For this purpose it is necessary to complete the passenger platform and the pedestrian bridge. We are ready to build it at our own expense, “- said the owner of the company.
He also said that he is ready to buy in Ukraine passenger railway cars in large quantities, but their price should be up to $ 1 million per piece.
RegioJet is the second biggest bus carrier in Europe after Flixbus and the biggest private railway passenger carrier in Central Europe. The company has licenses to operate in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria and Poland. Last year, RegioJet carried 11 million passengers.
According to the České noviny news agency, it would also be advisable to consider transferring the Czech L-159 fighter jets to Ukraine. He stressed that the Czech Republic has already provided Ukraine with about a hundred tanks and the same number of armored personnel carriers.
“It is worth considering maybe we could provide Ukraine with our L-159 planes with a certain look and prospect of rearming, because even as direct air support planes, they could significantly help Ukraine in a counterattack,” he added.
The Czech president stressed that Western countries have so far refrained from providing modern fighters to Ukraine because it takes a relatively long time to prepare for their use and because the machines contain secret systems. According to him, the allied countries do not want these devices to fall into Russia’s hands.
The KUB SAMs will replace the SPYDER missile systems made by Israel in the Czech army’s arsenal.
