Ammunition from Prague-led initiative arriving in Ukraine, Czech foreign minister says
Ammunition provided under the Czech-led initiative is now arriving in Ukraine and will continue to flow, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told RFE/RL on June 13.
The idea for the initiative was launched in February, as Ukrainian forces faced a critical ammunition shortage.
Czech President Petr Pavel said that Prague had identified 500,000 155 mm shells and 300,000 122 mm shells outside Europe that could be bought and sent to Ukraine after the necessary funds were allocated to the initiative.
Several countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Poland, France, Denmark, and Slovenia, joined the initiative, which may deliver as many as 1.5 million rounds to Kyiv.
Slovak activists also collected over 4 million euros ($4.3 million) for the initiative after the Slovak government refused to participate.
"This year we will be able to procure and continuously deliver quite a lot of ammunition - Czech supplied through different channels - more than a million shells to Ukraine so far," Lipavsky told RFE/RL.
"We are now able to make deals and to bring ammunition from different countries and then send it to Ukraine," allowing the country to "defend itself from Russian aggression," Lipavsky added.
The arrival of the ammunition matches earlier estimates that the first batches could be sent to Ukraine as early as June.
Francis Farrell
