Czech foreign minister was near Lviv during Oreshnik missile strike
Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (photo: facebook.com/petr.macinka)
During Russia's Oreshnik missile strike on Ukraine's Lviv region, Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka was located near Lviv, novinky.cz reports.
According to the report, Macinka arrived in Kyiv on the morning of Friday, January 9, by train from Przemyśl, Poland. During the journey, the train made stops and experienced a slight delay due to Russia's large-scale missile attack on Ukraine.
"At the moment of the attack on Lviv, Macinka was less than an hour's drive from the western Ukrainian city," the outlet writes.
After arriving in Kyiv, the Czech foreign minister commented on the Russian strikes, stressing the need to stop the violence.
"It is necessary to stop killing, attacking, shooting, and so on," he said.
He noted that during peace negotiations, a temporary escalation of the conflict often occurs so that one side or the other can "save face."
At the same time, he emphasized that he does not believe the version of an alleged Ukrainian strike on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the Russian Defense Ministry tried to use to justify the Oreshnik missile attack.
What is known about the Czech foreign minister's visit
Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka arrived in Ukraine on a visit on January 9, following a scandal sparked by inappropriate statements by Czech parliament speaker Tomio Okamura. This is Macinka's first visit to Ukraine.
In his New Year's address, Okamura called Ukraine's authorities the Zelenskyy "junta" and spoke out against providing weapons to Ukraine to "support an absolutely senseless war."
After the scandal, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha spoke with his Czech counterpart, Petr Macinka, and they agreed to "turn the page."
Oreshnik strike on Lviv region
The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that Russia launched a medium-range ballistic missile to strike Ukraine. The missile in question was the Oreshnik.
The missile flew along a ballistic trajectory at about 13,000 km/h.
The Security Service of Ukraine displayed fragments of a Russian ballistic missile used by Russian forces to attack the Lviv region on the night of January 8–9. The strike is being classified as a war crime.
