Ukrainian media: Czech refusal to send L-159s to Kyiv was revenge against the president

According to the Ukrainian news site Jevropejska Pravda, text messages published on Tuesday and sent by Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka to President Petr Pavel’s adviser, Petr Kolář, suggest that the Czech government’s refusal to supply L-159 combat aircrafts to Kyiv was retaliation against President Pavel over his refusal to appoint Filip Turek as environment minister.

In the messages, Macinka reportedly wrote that the sole reason Ukraine would not receive the aircrafts was what he described as Pavel’s “ill-considered” public remarks on the issue. President Pavel raised the possibility of supplying the L-159s for shooting down Russian drones during a recent visit to Ukraine. Macinka criticised those comments, after which Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s government said the aircraft could not be sold because they were needed by the Czech armed forces.

The issue has also been reported by other Ukrainian outlets, including the news agency Ukrinform and the website Censor.net.