Czech defence minister visits Ukraine

Czech Minister of Defence Jana Cernochova and a delegation from Czechia have visited Ukraine. Source:  Czech Ministry of Defence

Details: During her three-day visit, Cernochova honoured the memory of Czechoslovak legionnaires and soldiers killed in World War II and spoke about the sacrifices of soldiers from Czech lands who fought in the Austro-Hungarian army. Cernochova concluded her visit with a commemorative event at the Zborivska grave, a site associated with the beginning of the Czechoslovak legions' engagements on the Eastern Front during WWII.

"We visited places that are closely linked with our soldiers of World Wars I and II. The victims of both great wars and the heroes of the Eastern Front must be remembered even in connection with the current senseless aggression of Putin's Russia," Cernochova said. She also honoured the memory of Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed fighting against Russia.

Cernochova spoke with local authorities about the possibility of Czechia providing humanitarian aid ahead of the coming winter and thanked them for taking care of Czech wartime burials.

On Thursday, 25 July, Cernochova laid flowers in memory of Czechoslovak soldiers from World War II at a cemetery in the village of Sadahura, near the Ukrainian-Romanian border. The delegation, which also included Ales Knizek, director of the Military History Institute, and Robert Speichal, director of the Department for War Veterans and War Graves at the Ministry of Defence, discussed with local authorities the possibility of reconstructing the memorial site. On Friday, Cernochova visited Staryi Martyniv in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, where over 700 soldiers from Czech lands who were killed in action in 1915 are buried.

The Czech delegation also visited the village of Tsebriv and the place where, according to archives, several hundred fighters from the Austro-Hungarian 75th Infantry Regiment from Jindrichov Hradec, who were killed in combat in 1915 and 1916, are buried. The Czech Defence Ministry wants to work with the local authorities to create a memorial site. Cernochova laid flowers at a wartime burial in the village of Ozerna where about 50 Czechoslovakian legionnaires killed in 1917 are buried.

The legionnaires who died of their wounds sustained in the Battle of Zboriv (1917) are also buried there and in the vicinity of the cemetery.

Background: The Czech Ministry of Defence is preparing to launch its second initiative to supply Ukraine with artillery shells in 2025.

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