United to win: Iceland pledges €2 mln to equip Ukrainian army with shells
Photo: Reuters
Iceland has announced that it will financially support the Czech Republic's initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine and equipment for female service members of the Ukrainian army. The island country will allocate about two million euros for this.
This is reported on Iceland's government website.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, Bjarni Benediktsson, emphasized that this is a contribution "not only to the protection of the people of Ukraine but also to international law in a broader context and to one's own security interests."
In addition, according to him, the Icelandic parliament is currently considering a document with a strategy of long-term support for Ukraine.
"At the same time, we intend to continue to move quickly and support initiatives of this type," the minister emphasized.
Iceland is also pledging to provide 75 million Icelandic kroner (equivalent to approximately 503 thousand euros) to support the needs of Ukrainian women serving in the Defense Forces. This includes uniforms, bulletproof vests, and medical and hygiene products.
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:
- German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that Germany would participate in the purchase of 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine that the Czechia found outside the EU.
- Latvia has decided to join the Czech initiative to purchase artillery ammunition for Ukraine.
- France to join Czechia in purchase of 800,000 shells for Ukraine's defense
- 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.
- Portugal will join the Czech initiative to procure ammunition for Ukraine from third countries.
- Finland plans to back the Czech Republic's initiative to send hundreds of thousands of artillery ammunition to Ukraine by allocating 30 million euros.
- 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.
Moreover, the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, said that 800,000 artillery shells purchased in third countries of the world could be delivered to Ukraine within a few weeks.
