Czech Colonel Bujárek is the new commander of the NATO Combat Group in Slovakia – Home – News
Today, the Czech Colonel Ladislav Bujárek took command of the NATO multinational combat group in Slovakia. The exchange of positions took place after the rotation of Czech soldiers in the unit. The emerging group was formed this spring in response to the North Atlantic Alliance’s decision to find its eastern wing after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The ceremony, on the occasion of the change of commanders, was accompanied today in the military training area Lešť in central Slovakia by the arrival of members of the country’s units, the raising of their flags, and national anthems.
According to the battle group, full operational capabilities were to be achieved in September, and everything is reportedly proceeding according to plan. “Everything is on the best way to achieve operational capabilities according to the set schedule,” Bujárek told reporters. According to him, an important task will be the mutual training of active soldiers from different countries. “Every unit has already undergone national training, in the near future it must undergo international training,” said Bujárek, who works in the Czech army as a deputy chief of staff of the combat support forces.
In addition to the joint alliance unit, their troops were sent to Germany, the United States, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and the host country contributed a mortar squad. Unlike the original mandate, Poland is not represented in the unit.
After the now ending rotation, the Czech Republic is represented in Slovakia by a combat unit or support group. Czech soldiers are equipped with Pandur II wheeled combat vehicles. The function of the Czech unit is also more than a dozen members of active reserves. “They have the same duties, the same rights as professional soldiers,” Josef Kopecký, a Czech general and commander of the operation headquarters, told reporters. He added that during the next rotation at the end of the year, the number of members of active reserves in the NATO group in Slovakia was to reach up to 45 people.
The first commander of the so-called combat group was Tomáš Unzeitig, who before the mission in Slovakia held the position of deputy commander of the 31st Regiment of Biological, Radiation and Chemical Protection in Liberec.
In May, Slovakia approved an increase in the number of soldiers in the aforementioned combat group to a maximum of 3,000 from the originally introduced 2,100. The units are located in Lešť and also at the Sliač air base. Germany and the Netherlands, for example, provide Patriot air defense systems.
According to Kopecký, one of the group’s problems is now the lack of accommodation capacity, which should be resolved this autumn. At the beginning of June, the Slovak government set aside money for the construction of a container town in Lešť and a tent camp in Sliač.