Czech initiative: first batch of shells to arrive in Ukraine in June

This was announced on May 30 by Tomáš Kopečný, a representative of the Czech government for Ukraine, Radio Liberty reports.

"The first few tens of thousands of shells will arrive in June. We are talking about a number between 50,000 and 100,000 shells," he said.

According to him, so far six countries have contributed funds to the Czech initiative, which aimed to collect 1 million shells for Ukraine. Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Canada, and the Czech Republic have already financed the purchase of the shells. It is known that Germany has contributed EUR 600 million, Portugal EUA 100 million, the amount of the remaining contributions has not been announced. According to Kopečný, there are now financial resources that allow to purchase 500,000 shells for Ukraine and deliver them this year. The cost will amount to EUR 1.7 billion.

Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine: what is known

On February 17, the Czech Republic said 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, media reported 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.