Czechs may give Zelensky jets to support counter-attack

THE Czech Republic could give Ukraine some of its L-159 fighter jets to support its planned counter-offensive, its president Petr Pavel was quoted as saying yesterday.

The L-159 is a Czech-made, light subsonic combat aircraft designed for air support of ground forces, reconnaissance and partly also for air combat missions.

“It is worth considering whether we could provide Ukraine with our L-159 aircraft,” Mr Pavel told Czech public radio in an interview.

“As direct combat support aircraft, (the planes) could also help Ukraine significantly in the counter-offensive,” he said. Any decision on military shipments falls to the government.

Ukraine was also due to receive two units of the Kub air defence system from the Czechs, Mr Pavel said.

Ukraine, which says its forces are waiting for better weather before launching the long-promised counteroffensive, is pleading with allies to overcome hesitation about supplying modern fighter jets.

Mark Rutte. the Netherlands prime minister, said last week that talks on a potential donation of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine were progressing, but no decision has been made.

Slovakia and Poland provided Ukraine with Soviet-era MIG-29 fighter jets in March.

It came as a military object found in a Polish forest in April was a Russian KH-55 missile, two Polish media outlets reported yesterday.

Poland has been on alert for possible spillover of weaponry from the war in neighbouring Ukraine, especially since two people were killed near the border last November by what Warsaw concluded was a misfired Ukrainian air defence missile.

Polish authorities said last month a “military object” had been found in a forest close to the village of Zamosc, hundreds of miles from Poland’s borders with Ukraine, without going into further details about its origin.

Private broadcaster Polsat News reported without naming its sources that the object was a KH-55 missile.