Czech initiative to deliver 180,000 ammunitions to Ukraine in June – Pavel
By June, the Czech initiative plans to deliver the first batch of 180,000 rounds of ammunition to Ukraine. In the future, deliveries of much larger volumes are planned.
The President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, stated this in an interview with the German TV channel ARD.
As Pavel stated, the more parties are aware of the ammunition procurement initiative, the more intense the competition becomes. In his viewpoint, the allies should have discussed the initiative to gain support from other nations, but on the other hand, "we also revealed our cards, what Russia is using now."
"This is another reason why the initiative is not progressing as quickly as we would like. Together with our Prime Minister Petr Fiala, I assume that the first 180 thousand units of ammunition will be delivered in June, and there are already contracts for a seven—to six-figure number of shells," Pavel said.
The President of the Czech Republic also noted that Ukraine has faced extraordinary difficulties and demonstrated great resilience since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
According to him, Russia is much stronger than Ukraine, and the West supports Ukraine technically and financially. However, Pavel added, "We are approaching the moment when human resources and support among the Ukrainian population will increasingly become limiting factors."
"In this situation, and I have been talking about this for a long time, it is important to support Ukraine in every possible way so that it can make it clear to the Russian aggressor that there is no point in continuing the war, that Russia will not achieve any further military successes. Because as long as Russia has at least there is no hope for success, there is no reason for peace negotiations," Pavel emphasized.
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.
In total, 15 countries support the procurement of ammunition for Ukraine outside of Europe.
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 ammunition production 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 could be delivered to Ukraine within a few weeks.
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.
It's important to note that the Czech Republic has already located over a million units of artillery ammunition in non-European Union countries that can be purchased and transferred to Ukraine.
In turn, the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, said that the Czech initiative had gained momentum.
According to the media, Ukraine will receive more shells than expected as part of the Czech initiative.
