THE WALL STREET JOURNAL / USA
By Drew Hinshaw
The Czech Republic has donated attack helicopters to Ukraine, and, along with Slovakia, has allowed Ukraine’s military to send dozens of armored vehicles across their borders for repairs, before returning to the conflict, a significant escalation in Western support for the country in its fight with Russia.
The helicopters—Soviet-designed Mi-24 gunships—were deployed to Ukraine in recent weeks, part of a broader effort to help the country reclaim parity in its own airspace. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin thanked the Czechs for their donation during public comments after a meeting of allied defense officials Monday.
The gifts make the Czech Republic—which in April became the first NATO country to report donating tanks to Ukraine—the first to give Ukraine attack helicopters as well. The country also donated the majority of the 17,000 anti-tank weapons that NATO allies gave Ukraine during the first two weeks of the war, U.S. and Czech officials said. Its neighbor Slovakia donated an S-300 to help Ukraine reclaim some control over its air space.
The assistance shows how the eastern flank of the NATO military alliance is increasingly serving as a key supplier for Ukraine as the country wages what has become a large-scale conventional conflict. Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have all donated major weapon systems to Ukraine, in part because, as former members of the Communist bloc, the three militaries still retain spare parts and shared expertise for Ukraine’s Soviet-designed equipment. Their governments also generally view Ukraine’s fight with Russia as existential for their own independence.
In April, Slovakia provided an S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Ukraine. In return, the U.S. sent a Patriot missile battery, a comparable system, to Slovakia, to help defend Slovak air space. The Czech Republic sent slightly more than a dozen modernized, Soviet-designed T-72M tanks to Ukraine, alongside 10,000 rocket-propelled grenades, howitz