The Czech Republic has sent T-72 tanks and BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, a Czech defence source told Reuters on Tuesday, confirming a local media report.

Public broadcaster Czech Television initially reported the shipment, showing footage on Twitter of a train loaded with five tanks and five fighting vehicles. It said the shipment was a gift agreed with NATO allies.

The broadcaster said the information was confirmed by the head of the Czech lower house's European Affairs Committee Ondrej Benesik, who told Reuters he received the information from his Christian Democrat Party's expert on defence.

The source, from the Czech defence community, also confirmed that the tanks and fighting vehicles had been sent but declined to give any further details, citing security concerns.

Defence Minister Jana Cernochova told parliament she would not confirm or deny details of Czech aid to Ukraine.

"I will only assure you that the Czech Republic ... is helping Ukraine as much as it can and will continue to help by (supplying) military equipment, both light and heavy," Cernochova said.

A spokesperson for the Defence Ministry said the Czech Republic had sent military aid worth nearly 1 billion crowns ($45 million) to Ukraine since the beginning of the war on Feb. 24 but declined to give any further details.

The Czech vehicles are only the latest example of military equipment coming from the West. Germany on April 1 approved the delivery to Ukraine of several dozen infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) amid criticism that Berlin has not been sending enough military aid to Kyiv. read more

NATO allies will discuss the delivery of more weapons to Ukraine when foreign ministers meet on Wednesday and Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

FERNANDEZISBACK:
Putin..
What a weak clown he is...so he couldn't capture kyiv in 48 hour as predicted by his puppets..

Hezzyluv:
This war don dey gradually tight wrapper.

God1000:
Ukraine is his new Afghanistan

FERNANDEZISBACK:

Ukraine will recover for sure...Slava Ukraine..

chatinent:
Czech bitting more than it can chew.

allcomage:
That's is a very good gesture from Czech. Ukraine gas really surprised me by their tenacity The world should not leave them to face the bully alone. Putin and Russia must be punished. In the next few months Russia will understand that if they cook for the whole world, the food will not be enough but if the world cooks for Russia they will lose apatite.

VictorUSA:
To those who said we NATO are cowards and afraid to fight the weak russia, get it into your skull that a sleeping lion is more dangerous than a barking dog.

Tetrahedron:
I thot putin will win this war but it seems he has lost already

Anyway there is still a future war with russia leading some nations to fight Isreal

Russia will learn why khaki is not leather then

God1000:
how can a powerful NATO fear Russia

Skyfornia:
Putin it's time to give up and embrace peace...war doesn't solve problems

SmartPolician:
If Putin attacks Czech for this bold step, then we might all get ready for World War III. But then, we don't need another world war because it's easy to start a war, but nobody knows when or how it will end.

I always maintain that being an import-dependent country, any war on global scale would hit Nigeria and Nigerians badly. That's why our government needs to take the real sector seriously.

VictorUSA:
I can't tell, but that's what putin puppets said.

God1000:
without nuclear weapons, Russia doesn't stand a chance against NATO

techWriter3:
This invasion don dey gradually tight packaging