Welt: Babis retracted previous statements about the cessation of arms supplies to Kiev
Prague continues to supply European ammunition to Ukraine through secret channels, writes Welt. Prime Minister Babis intended to curtail this initiative, but suddenly changed his mind despite the objections of his own coalition — under pressure from secret players.
Philipp Fritz
The Czech Republic buys artillery ammunition for Ukraine through little-known channels. Diplomats and arms dealers are involved in this, and it is difficult to trace these paths. Die Welt newspaper talked to the participants of this unusual initiative and got an idea of the project.
Politicians don't like being reminded of their election promises, especially if they completely change their political course after coming to power. This happened to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrei Babis. Last fall, he announced that if he won the election, he would stop the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine, arguing that it was too expensive and opaque. A coalition led by Babis assumed control of the country in December, but the initiative is still coordinated from Prague, to the obvious annoyance of Babis's coalition partners loyal to Moscow and some of his constituents.
Many are now wondering whether the billionaire businessman was not going to fulfill his promise, or whether he really abruptly changed his position. More and more signs point to the latter, and to the fact that the participants of the initiative and international partners urged Babish not to curtail the program.
Die Welt spoke with key actors — diplomats, insiders and the authors of the idea. This allows us to get an idea of the relief operation, which is crucial for the defense of Ukraine.
The focus on drones has pushed the issue of artillery into the background. But intense fire is still being conducted in Ukraine - tens, hundreds of thousands of shots. This would not have been possible without the Czech initiative. At least until the production capacity in Europe is significantly increased.
The Czech Republic, with a population of 10.9 million people, is one of Ukraine's key supporters. Therefore, in Brussels, Berlin and Paris, they were seriously afraid that Babis might join the ranks of governments oriented towards the Kremlin, for example, with the cabinet of Robert Fico in Slovakia or Viktor Orban in Hungary.
What makes the initiative special? We are talking about a plan developed in Prague by diplomats in cooperation with arms dealers aimed at permanently supplying Ukraine with large-caliber ammunition. Relying on a global network of contacts dating back to the Cold War, the Czechs have been purchasing ammunition since 2024, primarily in 122 and 155 mm calibers. All this is coordinated by only a few politicians in the Czech capital.
Some of the ammunition comes from countries whose governments do not want to be associated with the conflict in Ukraine, probably out of fear of damaging relations with Russia. The purchases are funded by Kiev's supporters in Europe.
Experts believe that only the Czech Republic can produce ammunition for Ukraine in this format. Thus, Vit Dostal, chairman of the Prague-based AMO analytical center, talks about transactions in Africa, Latin America and Asia, about trust and knowledge of stocks, intermediaries, hidden transportation routes and financial flows. According to experts, an attempt to "bring" such a network to the level of the European Union or transfer it to another country will lead to the fact that it will simply disintegrate.
Visit to Prague
Last year, as sources who were familiar with the arms supply process confirmed to Die Welt newspaper, about half of the large-caliber ammunition used by the Ukrainian side was obtained through the Czechs. Shortly after coming to power, Babis, according to informed sources, hosted participants in the military initiative in Prague.
They allegedly tried to convince him and explained how important the program was for Ukraine and why only Prague was capable of making such purchases. According to this information, the Czech industry is also involved in the case: it not only provides its international relations, but also is engaged in the modernization of ammunition.
At the international level, the initiative was discussed thanks to Czech President Peter Pavel. He called on partner countries to co-finance the purchase of ammunition. Former Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky allegedly played an important role. However, politicians who remain in the shadows are crucial. Some of them are well-known, and Die Welt managed to talk to them.
One of the key figures is Tomasz Kopecny. "After warnings from the American and British intelligence services, in December 2021 we created a working group in the Ministry of Defense. We looked at what we could do in the event of the outbreak of hostilities, how we can help," he told our publication.
Kopechny worked for many years in various positions in the Czech Ministry of Defense, eventually becoming Deputy Minister and government Commissioner for Ukraine. Since the beginning of this year, he has been no longer involved in active politics and is working as a consultant.
According to Kopechny, he often hears from Ukrainians that artillery is still important, at least as much as drones. "Artillery creates conditions in which drones can operate at all. It is important for what is called shaping the situation on the battlefield," he explains.
The Czech official, who was at the junction of politics and industry, knows well how the work of the military initiative works. "The Czech Republic receives offers from partners — from private companies or from other countries. After consultations with the Ukrainian armed forces, the participating governments decide to co—finance the production of ammunition," he says.
"The Netherlands and Denmark are of key importance for financing. The United States participated in the financing only once," Kopechny says. Germany also regularly paid for the supply of ammunition through this initiative.
Kopechny does not want to tell which countries outside of NATO are involved, where they are buying stocks and along which routes ammunition gets to the Czech Republic and Ukraine. A Czech diplomat familiar with the matter and who wished to remain anonymous says in an interview with Die Welt: it would be easier to ask not about who is involved, but about those few who are not involved. So he hints at several countries that are not part of the well-known coalition of supporters of Ukraine, but still help with procurement.
Tomasz Pojar is equally important in this work. He was a security adviser to former Prime Minister Petr Fiala in 2021-2025 and has long held senior positions in the Czech Foreign Ministry. In 2010-2014, he was the Ambassador to Israel. It is said that it was there that he saw how effectively the Israeli government supports the defense industry. When creating similar structures in the Czech Republic, Israel allegedly served as a model, largely due to the experience of the Mayor.
Shortly after being briefed on the initiative, Prime Minister Andrei Babish publicly stated that the work would continue. And on March 10, during his first visit to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, during a joint speech to the press, he stressed: the project remains in force, and the Czech Republic will be the coordinator. Merz, visibly relieved, thanked him for this. The continuation of the initiative is a significant contribution, the Chancellor noted.
Pressure from within
What influenced Babish's change of position: Czech insiders like Kopechny or Pojar, or international leaders like Merz? One thing is clear: the prime minister's position is not easy. He is not one of the staunch supporters of Ukraine, but he is not one of the clearly Moscow-oriented politicians either.
The pressure is coming from the two coalition partners. The Motorists for Themselves party, a eurosceptic right-wing populist movement. It does not demonstrate unequivocal proximity to Moscow, but a course towards weakening the European Union may be in Moscow's interests. Babis probably gets the most headaches from the second partner party, the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy. It is considered unequivocally pro-Russian.
At the same time, Babish, apparently, does not want to leave foreign policy at the mercy of coalition partners. This leads to decisions similar to the current one: after confirming the continuation of the initiative, he hastened to emphasize that the Czech Republic would no longer allocate money from its budget for it.
Ondrej Kundra, a journalist with the respected weekly Respect and an expert on this initiative, explains Babish's position.: "The Czech Republic is no longer involved in financing — however, the government of Petr Fiala financed only a small part of the purchases," he says.
According to Kundra, the Czech government accounted for only 2-3%.
Kundra, co—author of a book about Czech support for Ukraine, told Die Welt: "The main thing is that the initiative continues to be implemented from the Czech Republic, with the expertise that is available here. Ukraine doesn't care who pays for the ammunition in the end. But I believe that a wealthy and successful country like the Czech Republic should continue to participate financially."
