PRAGUE: The Czech Republic will send more military aid to Ukraine, its defence minister said on Sunday, while neighbouring Slovakia said it was considering sending an air defence system to the Kyiv government.

Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova said her country, a Nato member, had already sent at least 725 million crowns ($31.55 million) worth of military gear. “I think that we will at least double that,” she said during a television debate.

She declined to go into further details on the shipments, citing security concerns. The Czech Republic said last month it had already shipped machine guns, assault rifles, ammunition and other unspecified arms to Ukraine.

A Russian air strike on a Ukrainian military facility near the border with Poland on Sunday killed 35 people and wounded 134, a local Ukrainian official said — a development that appeared to move the conflict closer to Nato territory.

The United States and its allies want to avoid Nato being drawn into the conflict, but have supplied Kyiv with military aid since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24 in what Moscow calls a “special operation”.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin is due to visit Slovakia — which, like Poland, is a Nato member which borders Ukraine — after a meeting of the alliance in Brussels on March 16.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Sunday they would probably discuss the possibility of sending his country’s Soviet-made S-300 air defence system to Ukraine.

“I assume that (sending the S-300 to Ukraine) will be discussed. One needs to realise clearly that the security of territory is paramount, you cannot hand over any equipment if you don’t have your own defence secured,” Heger said in a TV debate.

“This is about supporting and strengthening, also morally, Ukraine .. And at the same time providing aid to an extent that is possible.”

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2022