{"id":1386676,"date":"2026-06-13T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/?p=1386676"},"modified":"2026-06-11T10:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:35:05","slug":"czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Czech Defense Minister Jarom\u00edr Zuna is insisting that defense spending increase to 2% of GDP after being reduced this year to 1.8%.<\/p>\n

According to UATV English<\/a>, citing Ceske Noviny<\/a>, the Defense Ministry argues that defense expenditures must increase by 35 billion crowns (approximately $1.6 billion) compared to 2026, reaching 190 billion crowns (around $9 billion).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Czech coalition government, which came to power following last year\u2019s parliamentary elections, argues that the existing military capabilities of the national army are more important than GDP percentage targets. It also warns that a sharp increase in defense spending would place significant pressure on the state budget, which is already facing a high deficit.<\/p>\n

In 2026, Czech defense spending will amount to 154.79 billion crowns (approximately $7.3 billion), equivalent to 1.78% of GDP. The current figure is more than 16 billion crowns (around $763 million) lower than last year\u2019s level.<\/p>\n

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babi\u0161 recently acknowledged that the country will not meet NATO\u2019s defense spending targets, but pointed to what he described as an advantage \u2014 his friendship with U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

As previously reported, Czech President Petr Pavel and the government have been at odds over defense spending policy. Pavel has repeatedly criticized the planned level of Czech defense expenditures, warning that the country could end up among NATO\u2019s \u201claggards.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker has also criticized the Czech Republic\u2019s defense spending plans, noting that they fall short even of the Alliance\u2019s previous 2% of GDP target.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/strong> Ukraine Secures Additional Air Defense Systems and Interceptor Missiles from Partners, Foreign Ministry Says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Czech Defense Minister Jarom\u00edr Zuna is insisting that defense spending increase to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1273960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,49,36415,55],"tags":[76,78,72926],"sources":[],"class_list":["post-1386676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-en","category-11473-news-en","category-ukraine-en","tag-glavnoe-en","tag-homepage-en","tag-ukraine-s-allies-aid"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCzech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction - Freedom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction - Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Czech Defense Minister Jarom\u00edr Zuna is insisting that defense spending increase to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-13T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750-820x473.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Danylo Shportilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Danylo Shportilo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Danylo Shportilo\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2\"},\"headline\":\"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-13T13:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/\"},\"wordCount\":272,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435\",\"\u041d\u0430 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0443\u044e (\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u0440)\",\"Ukraine\u2019s Allies & Aid\"],\"articleSection\":[\"\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438\",\"News\",\"Politics\",\"Ukraine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/\",\"name\":\"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction - Freedom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-13T13:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"155-caliber shells. Photo: ap.org\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Freedom\",\"description\":\"UATV - UA|TV - International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2\",\"name\":\"Danylo Shportilo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Danylo Shportilo\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/author\/d-shportilo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction - Freedom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction - Freedom","og_description":"Czech Defense Minister Jarom\u00edr Zuna is insisting that defense spending increase to ...","og_url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/","og_site_name":"Freedom","article_published_time":"2026-06-13T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":820,"height":473,"url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750-820x473.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Danylo Shportilo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Danylo Shportilo","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/"},"author":{"name":"Danylo Shportilo","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2"},"headline":"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction","datePublished":"2026-06-13T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/"},"wordCount":272,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750.jpg","keywords":["\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435","\u041d\u0430 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0443\u044e (\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u0440)","Ukraine\u2019s Allies & Aid"],"articleSection":["\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438","News","Politics","Ukraine"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/","name":"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction - Freedom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-13T13:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ammo_1300x750.jpg","width":1300,"height":750,"caption":"155-caliber shells. Photo: ap.org"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/czech-defense-ministry-pushes-for-higher-military-spending-after-this-year-s-reduction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Czech Defense Ministry Pushes for Higher Military Spending After This Year\u2019s Reduction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/","name":"Freedom","description":"UATV - UA|TV - International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f4fe8d6d08deebcdee69f6671576d2d2","name":"Danylo Shportilo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dfea04f04995a5257694c4ef7149b332b4103ac47f1c95f912cddd7a1e2ef4e7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Danylo Shportilo"},"url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/author\/d-shportilo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1386676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1386678,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386676\/revisions\/1386678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1273960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1386676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1386676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1386676"},{"taxonomy":"sources","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sources?post=1386676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}