United to win: Latvia allocates €10 mln to buy artillery ammunition for Ukraine

At a closed meeting on Tuesday, the Latvian government decided to provide 10 million euros to Ukraine for the acquisition of artillery ammunition. Additionally, a second shipment of drones is expected to be delivered during the summer.

Delfi reports this with reference to Prime Minister Evika Siliņa and Defense Minister Andris Sprūds.

The designated sum of money has been allocated to support the Czech initiative to supply artillery ammunition to Ukraine. The Czech Republic is leading efforts to coordinate with multiple nations in financing the purchase of ammunition to meet Ukraine's needs.

Sprūds said that Latvia's allocated money will be used to purchase more than 3,000 large-caliber 155-millimeter shells.

Regarding the drone coalition led by Latvia and Great Britain, Sprūds mentioned that Latvia recently sent around 100 drones to Ukraine. The second shipment, including approximately 1,000 combat drones with varying capacities, is scheduled for June.

Currently, the member countries of the coalition have announced funding in the amount of more than half a billion euros for the purchase of drones.

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It should be noted that Latvia, within the framework of the IT coalition initiative, handed Ukraine communication equipment worth about 100,000 euros. This should provide brigades with communication at the tactical level.

As previously reported by Rubryka, President Volodymyr Zelensky, together with his Latvian colleague Edgars Rinkevichs, signed a bilateral security agreement between the two countries. According to the agreement, Latvia undertook to provide annual assistance and support to Ukraine during its accession to the EU and NATO.

According to the agreement:

• Latvia will provide military aid to Ukraine for 0.25% of GDP each year;
• Latvia makes a 10-year commitment to support Ukraine in cyber defense, demining, and unmanned technologies. It will also contribute to our accession to the European Union (EU) and NATO.