Czechia has provided Ukraine with tanks for use in its ongoing conflict with Russia, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, on Tuesday.

The Central European nation has also reportedly supplied Kiev with howitzer artillery pieces and Soviet-made BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles. The supplies have been funded by the Prague government and some private donors, who joined a state-backed crowdfunding campaign.

Western nations have been supplying Ukraine with weapons, ammunition and fuel since shortly after the start of the Russian military attack, in late February. Most deliveries to date have included portable anti-tank and anti-air missiles, as well as small arms.

Australia said earlier this week it has been flying Bushmaster armored vehicles to Europe, destined for use by Kiev's forces. German media also earlier reported that Berlin had approved the delivery of self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine by a number of other NATO members.

Some NATO states, such as Slovenia, have virtually depleted their own supplies. Now, its prime minister, Janez Jansa, says his nation's Western allies are in no rush to replenish these stocks.

"Unfortunately, our reserves are depleted and now we are trying to replace equipment... with new deliveries from US.

"If the war is going to get longer and longer, the war equipment that is being damaged needs to get serviced. Ukrainian repair houses are 100% busy, and they are asking other nearby allies to help them with repairs."

Earlier, Russia warned that it would consider arms deliveries to Ukraine as legitimate military targets but Moscow hasn't targeted any arms convoys outside of Ukrainian territory so far. It has not commented on a potential response to NATO states providing equipment repair facilities to Ukraine.

The EU Commission has triggered a new mechanism which could see billions of euros allocated for Hungary [be withdrawn].

Speaking in the European parliament on Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explained that the European Commission and the Hungarian leadership have "not been able to find common ground" on the issue of anti-corruption reforms. She added that Budapest's response to a formal notice on the matter did not leave the EU top body with any other option but to move on "to the next step." "The Commission has today told the Hungarian authorities that we will now send a formal letter to start the conditionality mechanism." She referred to the instrument adopted in late 2020 allowing the bloc to withhold aid funding from a member that is found to be failing to adhere to the union's democratic principles.

Orban's presidential victory prompted his chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, to call on the European Commission to accept "the basic rules of democracy" and "not to punish Hungarian voters for expressing an opinion not to Brussels' taste." Gulyas was apparently referring to harsh criticism of Orban's policies by the EU leadership.

EU Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn made it clear that the body planned to speed up the implementation of the mechanism. However, any suspension of funds would involve additional negotiations between the sides and a qualified majority vote in the European Council. The EU Commission will have to provide details of particular cases when rule-of-law violations directly led to the misuse of EU budget funds by Hungarian authorities, which means that the process is expected to last months.

The conditionality mechanism, along with a multi-billion recovery package, was supposed to serve as "an additional layer of protection in cases when breaches of the rule of law principles affect or risk affecting the EU financial interests."

Poland and Hungary had consistently argued that the "conditionality mechanism" was not included in any of the EU treaties. They also said the ECJ would be overstepping its powers in approving such a mechanism.

Hungary's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Ukrainian ambassador, on Wednesday, over Kiev's harsh criticism of Budapest's stance on Russia's ongoing military operation in Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Peter SzijjartoIt wrote on facebook:

"It is time for Ukrainian leaders to stop their insults directed at Hungary. Kiev should acknowledge the will of the Hungarian people."

He reminded that Budapest had condemned the use of force by Russia, acknowledged Ukraine's sovereignty and accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting.

However, the FM reiterated that Hungary wasn't a party to the conflict in Ukraine, saying that "we want to, and will, stay out of it."

Budapest, which has arguably the closest ties with Moscow among the EU capitals, has joined European sanctions imposed on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine. But it refused to send weapons to Kiev and insisted that it'll never support any curbs on Russian energy.

Ukrainian ambassador to Hungary, Lyubov Nepop, will now have to explain the words of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who claimed on Tuesday that

"Orban feared Russia's influence and warned that Hungary would eventually be forced to choose between Moscow and the "other world."

Kiev officials suggested that Budapest could be looking to use the fighting in Ukraine to claim the country's western Zakarpattia Region, populated by Hungarians, for itself.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday that he has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet the leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine in Budapest, urging the Russian leader to declare an immediate ceasefire.

Orban said, as quoted by AFP, "His response was positive, but with conditions."

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Russia waged a deliberate campaign to commit atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, and the United States is supporting the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities in their investigation of these acts, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

"What we've seen in Bucha is not the random act of a rogue unit," Blinken told reporters before departing for Brussels for a NATO foreign ministers' meeting.

"It's a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities," he said.

Russia, which says it launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24 to demilitarize and "denazify" its neighbor, denies targeting civilians and said the deaths were a "monstrous forgery" staged by the West to discredit it.

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