By Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, April 8 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic has delivered tanks, multiple rocket launchers, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine among military shipments that have reached hundreds of millions of dollars and will continue, two Czech defence sources said.
Ukraine has repeatedly called on the West to urgently supply more weapons, especially heavy equipment, as Russian forces regroup in the country's east for new offensive after withdrawing from around the capital Kyiv and other regions.
NATO members provide a wide variety of weapon systems to the nation, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Thursday.
The Czech Republic - a former Soviet satellite as part of then Czechoslovakia - has spare equipment that Ukrainian forces are familiar with in storage as well as a defence industry focused on upgrades and trade in such weapons. It has been an active EU nation in supporting Ukraine.
Sources from defence confirmed to Reuters that five T72 tanks had been shipped, along with five BVP-1 or BMP-1 infantry combat vehicles. The images of the rail cars were captured on Twitter and in video footage this week.
"We have been supplying heavy equipment for several weeks - I am generalizing it but it is obvious that this includes tanks as well as infantry fighting machines and howitzers." A senior defense official stated.
"What has gone from the Czech Republic is in the hundreds of millions of dollars."
The sources declined to discuss the quantity of weapons supplied.
The senior defence official said the Czechs were also supplying a range of anti-aircraft weaponry.
Independent defence analyst Lukas Visingr said short-range air-defence systems Strela-10, or SA-13 Gopher in NATO terminology, have been spotted on a train apparently bound for Ukraine, in line with a report in Czech weekly respekt.cz.
The Defence Ministry declined comments on concrete military aid. Reuters asked the Ukrainian government for comments, but it typically declines to provide information on weapons shipments.
The German government has made public a shipment that includes 56 Czechoslovak infantry fighting vehicles. These vehicles were previously operated by East Germany as well as by Sweden.
They were later sold to Czech arms company EXCALIBUR ARMY. This is part of the industrial and defence holding CZECHOSLOVAK GROUP, which was instrumental in Czech supplies to Ukraine.
The company declined to comment on concrete shipments. It stated that it had received heavy equipment since the beginning of the war.
FUNDRAISING TO SUPPORT WEAPONS
According to the embassy website, $37.45million has been raised through public fundraising.
The embassy did NOT respond to our request for comment.
Funding also comes from the Czech government in the form of gifts of equipment and ammunition for the army, which have reached over $44.51 Million to date, according the Defence Ministry. The official did not give further details.
Sourcing, of both light and heavy weapons, is done from army stockpiles and through Czech defence companies and their network of contacts in other countries, the sources said.
Visingr said the Czech army had possibly around 60 tanks and a three-digit number of fighting vehicles and CZECHOSLOVAK GROUP had even more pieces of heavy equipment in storage that could be potentially supplied to Ukraine.
He said that Ukraine's time constraints have made it possible to keep a lot of its equipment outdated.
"This is a benefit, and not a deficit. These are things the Ukrainians know perfectly."
The Czech Republic has also been in talks with Ukraine about repairing damaged Ukrainian equipment.
According to a defense source, this could be equipment that was damaged during fighting or in storage in Ukraine. tlauncher.club The source said that Czech repair firms were being consulted about their potential. ($1 = 22.