Czech Defense Ministry Blocks Army Chief's Trip to Ukraine

The Czech Army's new Chief of the General Staff, Miroslav Hlaváč, will not be traveling to Ukraine after all — a trip that would have been his first since taking office. He had planned to attend the international YES conference in Kyiv, but the visit fell through, General Staff spokeswoman Gabriela Kuglerová confirmed to the outlet.

"The Chief of the General Staff will not be taking part in the conference," Kuglerová said. News of Hlaváč's intention to attend the forum — where other military leaders and European politicians were expected — was first reported by the weekly Respekt. Among other things, the conference was set to address lessons learned from Ukraine's armed forces.

Who blocked the visit

According to Respekt, the Defense Ministry, headed by Jaroslav Zůna (of the SPD party), never approved Hlaváč's trip. Under Czech rules, the head of the army needs authorization from the minister or his deputy to travel to Kyiv. Sources at the outlet say that neither Zůna himself nor his deputy Radovan Vích (SPD) responded to the request — effectively blocking the trip by inaction. Following the army's official statement, it became clear once and for all: Hlaváč will not be going to Ukraine.

"The Chief of the General Staff's participation in the YES conference had been under preliminary discussion as part of the standard coordination of foreign work trips with the Defense Ministry leadership," Kuglerová added, without elaborating further.

The editorial team is trying to get a response from Minister Zůna, who is currently attending a security conference in China.

Earlier promises and past disputes

Shortly after his appointment in December 2025, Zůna himself said he had received an invitation to visit Ukraine. Later, however, in a video posted on social media alongside SPD deputy chairman Radim Fiala, he denied any plans to travel to the country that had come under Russian invasion.

Hlaváč's predecessor as Chief of the General Staff, Karel Řehka, visited Ukraine repeatedly, meeting with his counterparts Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Oleksandr Syrskyi, and traveling not only to Kyiv but also to Kharkiv.

This is not the first time a defense minister has refused to authorize a foreign trip by the chief of the General Staff. Earlier this year, Respekt reported that Zůna had barred then-army chief Řehka from a planned visit to the United States — a claim the Defense Ministry denied on its website at the time. And back in 2024, Řehka had a similar dispute with Zůna's predecessor as minister, Jana Černochová, over a planned trip to Jordan.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz