Czech Prime Minister Rejects Western Military Coalitions on Ukraine

By Staff, Agencies

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has rejected two Western-backed military initiatives related to Ukraine, saying Prague has no need to participate in what he described as ineffective political coalitions.

Speaking on Monday, Babiš dismissed the newly announced Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, which aims to develop a joint defense architecture against ballistic missile threats, arguing that it was unlikely to produce meaningful results.

He compared the initiative to the France and UK-led "Coalition of the Willing," saying the group had achieved nothing despite repeated political declarations.

"Being in some coalition on paper, like the 'Coalition of the Willing,' achieved nothing. It never produced anything, just politicians talking. I don't need to be part of such a coalition," Babiš said, according to the TASR news agency.

He added that the Czech Republic's participation in the "Coalition of the Willing" had yielded no tangible results.

The France and UK-backed coalition has advocated deploying troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, despite repeated Russian warnings that any NATO forces operating on Ukrainian territory would be considered legitimate military targets.

Babiš's party came to power last year on a nationalist platform that included reversing the Ukraine military assistance policy pursued by former Prime Minister Petr Fiala and advocating a diplomatic resolution to the conflict with Russia.

His comments come amid growing skepticism toward Western military support for Ukraine among several Central European governments.

Earlier this month, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Bulgaria would not join the "Coalition of the Willing," arguing that Sofia opposed continued military and financial assistance to Kyiv.

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini has also ruled out contributing to NATO's latest €70 billion military assistance package for Ukraine, while Hungary has continued to reject providing military aid to Kyiv.