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The Czech government has announced plans to allocate funding to the PURL program for the procurement of U.S. weapons for Ukraine, marking the first time Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s government has committed financial support to military assistance for Kyiv, UATV English reports.
According to CT24, citing Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macek, the funding will be redirected from existing Ukraine-related projects to the PURL initiative, under which allied countries finance the purchase of American military equipment for Ukraine.
“We are now considering redirecting funding from some projects that are financed from our budget for Ukraine to the PURL program,” Macek told journalists ahead of the NATO Summit in Ankara.
According to Deník N, the foreign minister is expected to formally present the policy shift during a dinner meeting of NATO and Ukrainian foreign ministers on Wednesday.
Babiš’s coalition partner, the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, strongly opposes Czech participation in the initiative.
“This issue has never been discussed by the coalition council. This is the foreign minister’s decision,” SPD spokesperson Lenka Čejková said.
Czech President Petr Pavel welcomed the government’s signal of support.
“The Czech Republic was one of the few countries that had not signed up to this process. If this happens now, it will certainly be a positive signal,” he said.
Since Andrej Babiš returned to office at the end of 2025, the Czech government has not approved new military aid packages for Ukraine or undertaken new financial commitments to support Kyiv.
A day earlier, Babiš said he would not block NATO’s decision to provide Ukraine with €70 billion in annual military assistance for 2026–2027. At the same time, he stressed that the Czech Republic would not assume additional financial obligations for Ukraine at the NATO Summit.
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