Berlin supplies 180,000 artillery shells to Ukraine

Reuters reports.

The publication clarified that last month, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced an aid package worth 478 million euros to Ukraine, not including support for the Czech initiative to provide ammunition.

"Thus, the total cost of both support measures is more than one billion euros," said a representative of the German defense ministry.

According to the ministry, Germany will account for 40% of the initiative.

Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine: what is known

On February 17, it became known that the Czech Republic had found sources abroad for hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds that it could deliver to Ukraine in a matter of weeks.

The Netherlands publicly announced their participation by allocating 100 million euros for the purchase of ammunition. France will also join the initiative to procure ammunition for Ukraine outside the EU. Additionally, Germany and Norway have expressed support for the initiative.

On February 22, it became known that Canada was ready to allocate up to $22 million for shells for Ukraine. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Kroo also announced that the country would finance the Czech initiative with €200 million.

On March 2, the Czech Republic announced that they would be able to make the first deliveries of ammunition to Kyiv within a few weeks.

Later, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė stated that her country would support the Czech Republic's multilateral initiative to purchase and transfer artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

On March 8, Czech President Petr Pavel announced the completion of fundraising for the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine. The government clarified that it was only the first batch of 300,000 shells.

On March 12, the Czech Republic announced the possibility of purchasing another 200,000 artillery shells for Ukraine in addition to the 300,000 already financed.

The Czech government said that artillery shells, which will be purchased at the initiative of Prague, are likely to start arriving in Ukraine in June.