Czech Defence Minister visits Ukraine on 105th anniversary of Battle of Zborov

Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová visited Ukraine’s Ternopil region on Saturday where, together with local representatives, she honoured the memory of fallen Czechoslovak legionaries who died at the WWI Battle of Zborov 105 years ago. Information about the visit was only disclosed by the defence minister after it occurred.

Ms Černochová said she had been planning the visit of the memorial to the battle already before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She wrote on Twitter that “[Vladimir] Putin’s barbaric attack was a further reason to not just pay tribute to our heroes, but also symbolically support Ukraine in her fight against the occupiers.”

Local district governor Volodymyr Trush said that the defence minister’s visit served as further evidence of the Czech Republic’s solidarity with Ukraine.

The 1917 Battle of Zborov was perhaps the most famous military engagement that Czechoslovak legionaries took part in on the Eastern Front during World War I. It convinced the then Russian government to end its limitations on new units formed from Czech and Slovak soldiers captured during the war.