According to Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský, by firing a hypersonic missile, Moscow mainly wanted to intimidate Ukrainians and Europeans. He said this during his visit to Ukraine, which he started on Friday. At a press conference with Ukrainian ministry partner Andriy Sybih, he urged allies to allow Kyiv to defend itself as it sees fit, including targeted attacks on Russian territory. Based on the station ČT24, the TASR reporter reports.
On Thursday, Russia used a new type of medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile for the first time since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. On Friday morning, even when the alarm was declared in several places, the head of Czech diplomacy arrived in the Ukrainian capital. It is his fourth visit to the country since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský (left) and his Ukrainian ministerial colleague Andrij Sybiha.
Source:
TASR/AP
He called the use of the missile a further escalation of the war and a symbol that Russia will continue it. During the negotiations with Sybih, he reminded that the Czech Republic should deliver the rest of the 500,000 pieces of artillery ammunition to Ukraine on the Czech initiative by the end of the year.
“My country has experienced similar challenges and difficult elections in the past. Others wanted to decide our fate without us. And we all know how that turned out. That will not be the case for Ukraine. You are the ones who will decide your fate, the democratic states will stand by your side in your legitimate fight against Russian terror,” Lipavský said at the press conference.
During the visit, he viewed the demining project in the village of Myle near Kyiv and, according to station ČT24, tried demining himself. The initiative there is led by the humanitarian non-governmental organization Halo Trust, and several countries, including the Czech Republic, participate financially in it. “It is a job that is extremely important for the local population to not be afraid to go into the forest, and at the same time it is very slow. So I am glad that the Czech Republic also supports demining,” the minister commented on the project.
He then toured the Kyiv Children’s Hospital, which was severely damaged by a Russian airstrike in June. “When the Russian barbarians dropped rockets on the Ochmatdyt Children’s Hospital, I wrote that only ‘scum of humanity’ could do such a thing. But when I saw it with my own eyes today, I would have chosen sharper words,” X added on the social network.
On Saturday, Lipavský should lay ears of corn at the famine memorial, and he also plans to participate in a conference on food security.
