United to win: Poland joins Czech initiative to procure shells for Ukraine
Photo: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Warsaw joined the initiative of the Czech Republic to purchase hundreds of thousands of artillery shells for Ukraine, but it is not known how much the Polish government allocated.
According to Bloomberg, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Radoslaw Sikorski, announced that.
"Yes, we joined [the Czech Republic's initiative to purchase projectiles for Ukraine – ed.]," the Polish diplomat noted.
At the same time, during a meeting with American journalists organized by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington, the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry refused to name the amount allocated by his government for the projectiles.
For reference:
On February 17, at the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel said that his country had found 500,000 155 mm and 300,000 122 mm rounds that could be delivered within weeks if the money was available.
According to Pavel, the Czech Republic could transfer the projectiles in weeks if funding is obtained from the USA, Germany, Sweden, and others.
It is known that the following joined the initiative of the Czech Republic:
- Canada, which will allocate 30 million Canadian dollars (about 23 million US dollars) for the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine outside NATO;
- The Netherlands allocates more than 100 million euros to this initiative;
- Belgium, which will give 200 million euros for the initiative of the Czech Republic;
- Lithuania will join the Czech initiative to purchase and transfer ammunition to Ukraine.
- In total, 15 countries support the procurement of ammunition for Ukraine outside of Europe.
It is worth adding that during the past months, the European Union has significantly increased the production of ammunition and will bring this capacity to 1 million ammunition per year in March of this year and to 2 million in 2025.
Earlier, the president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, said that 800,000 artillery shells purchased in the third countries could be delivered to Ukraine within a few weeks.
