Shmyhal thanks Czechs for “incredible support”

Ukraine is very grateful to the Czech Republic, which has been helping the nation since the first days of war, and is counting on its support in the process of becoming an EU member state.

That’s according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who spoke in an interview with the Czech publication Denik N on the occasion of his participation in the Prague Summit of the European Political Community, Ukrinform reports.

"Ukraine needs weapons, sanctions, and money to win. The Czech Republic has supported Ukraine since the first days of the full-scale attack – it supports us militarily and with sanctions. We know that the Czech Republic supported all sanction packages. The current one, the eighth, was introduced under the Czech presidency," Shmyhal said.

"I would like to thank the Czech people, for their incredible support to Ukraine – a lot of money comes from small donors and ordinary citizens," prime minister noted.

He thanked his Czech conunterparts, in particular, for the "Gift for Putin" initiative – a main battle tank, nicknamed Thomas, was purchased through crowdfunding.

In the near future, the head of government vowed, it will become a weapon that the Ukrainian Army will use on the battlefield. Even after the required sum was raised, the Czechs continued to collect donations, this time for ammunition and other items that Thomas requires.

In addition, Shmyhal noted, the Czech Republic also supports a number of humanitarian and social projects in Ukraine.

"We are extremely grateful for this – for those initiatives put forward by ordinary Czechs. But I would also like to thank the Czech government. Prime Minister Fiala, who has been engaged since Day 1," the politician emphasized.

Currently, Kyiv is counting on the support of the Czech Republic, which currently chairs the Council of the EU, in the matter of achieving EU membership.

Ukraine received the status of a candidate for EU membership, and now it is very important to move from the policy of partnership to that of actual EU expansion, Shmyhal noted.

As reported earlier, Prime Minister of Ukraine took part in the first meeting of the newly created European Political Community hosted by Prague.