thank you.
And a note the newshour's
, coverage of the war in Ukraine
is supported in partnership with
the pulitzer center.
The first country to provide
Ukraine with soviet-era tanks
was the Czech Republic.
It's also provided artillery and
infantry fighting vehicles.
Due to their historical ties to
the soviet union, both countries
field similar weapons systems,
allowing the Ukrainians to use
Czech armaments effectively, and
with little training.
For more on his nation's aid to
Ukraine, I'm joined by Jan
lipavasky, the Czech Republic's
minister of foreign affairs.
Minister, thank you very much
for joining us.
At this point, do you believe
your country is doing all it can
to support Ukraine?
>> Hello.
We are doing as much as we can
and we are doing it for
Ukrainians, we are doing it for
the whole of Europe, and for the
world order since Vladimir Putin
is waging war against the whole
world and international order.
Judy: I want to ask about that
because today word came from
U.S. Officials that the soviet
era tanks that the Czech
Republic and Poland supplied to
Ukraine, a number of have
created problems and were not in
the condition that should have
been in.
Is your country doing all it
could have done to make sure all
of the material is in good
working order?
>> It depends.
If there is a will, there is a
way.
We are also helping repairing
works so I hope it will be
solved soon.
Judy: So you are confirming
there have been some issues with
the tanks?
Is that right?
>> No, no, no.
I'm saying we are using the old
weapons so there may be issues,
but I don't want to be specific
on any of that.
Judy: More broadly speaking,
minister, is it your sense that
all of nato is doing for Ukraine
what it could be doing?
>> I will really be speaking
about specific states like the
United States or the kingdom of
Poland, the major contribution
on these activities delivering
weapons to Ukraine.
Other states like France that
are providing weapons and the
European union agreed on
multiple significant packages of
money.
So there always can be more but
we also need to be thinking that
this has to be done in a
sustainable way.
Is it an outburst of activities?
So we need to do that.
Judy: I want to ask about what
we just heard in the report, the
comments much earlier today by
U.S. Defense secretary Lloyd
Austin.
He said he wants to make sure
Russians would not be able to do
the kinds of things it has done
in the invasion.
In other words, the U.S. Is
saying they don't want Russia to
do another invasion.
Is that realistic?
Does the west have the ability
to stop the Russians from doing
that?
>> Yes.
Yes, we have to stop Russia now.
Putin has the mind of an
imperialistic, big Russia.
He won't stop with Ukraine.
He would continue with other
countries, maybe the baltics and
Moldova so we have to stop this
Russian aggression.
We need to help with
humanitarian and military aid.
Judy: So you are saying it's
realistic, given the level of
assistance that the west and
nato is giving Ukraine right now
that you believe it can hold off
Russia?
You believe Ukraine can prevail?
>> Definitively yes and I
believe Ukraine will win this
war.
Judy: What gives you that
confidence?
>> I understand and I see the
will of Ukraine for freedom,
open society, for democracy and
freedom of speech.
Zelenskyy was democratically
elected and Putin was not.
That's the difference.
Judy: I hear you saying that,
yet we see the Russians firing
missiles across the Ukrainian
countryside, hitting the west of
Ukraine now.
What is to stop them from
continuing to wage this kind of
war?
>> The sanctions will stop the
flow of money so that Russians
sooner or later will not be able
to produce those modern rockets.
And will the left provide
Ukraine with their systems?
They would be able to shoot this
rocket down.
That's what we have to do.
Judy: Mr. Minister, you
mentioned the sanctions.
The Czech Republic is a member
of the European union the eu has
failed so far to agree on
stopping purchasing oil and gas
from Russia.
Can Russia be stopped as long as
that kind of business, that kind
of trade continues with Russia
and the rest of Europe?
>> This is part of the problem.
I'm sure that the eu sooner or
later will be able to solve this
issue.
We are in the process of making
the sixth package of sanctions
which will be announced pretty
soon.
Europe is partially dependent on
Russian gas.
We need to do some measures and
intermediate solutions.
It's not so easy but we are
working on it.
Judy: Is Germany the main
holdup?
>> We need to find different
sources.
We need to find ways how to cut
demand in some areas so that is
something which will take time.
Judy: We are going to leave it
there.
The foreign minister Jan
lipavsky, thank you very much.
>> Thank you.
Goodbye.