Germany will finance the Czech initiative to procure ammunition for Ukraine for €576 million. This will allow the purchase of 180,000 shells.
Germany's contribution to the Czech initiative
The German Ministry of Defence reported that Berlin will account for 40% of the initiative.
Germany announced it would join the initiative earlier but did not disclose the contribution amount. Ukraine will receive these ammunitions in the second half of 2024. This will be the second stage of support for the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Germany.
The first stage is the 18,000 shells already handed over at the end of March. The third stage will be Germany's agreement with a third country to supply Ukraine with 100,000 more ammunition.
Last month, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced a €478 million aid package to Ukraine, excluding support for the Czech munitions initiative.
Czech Ammunition Initiative
In February, the president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, announced that his country had found sources of supply of 800,000 artillery ammunition abroad.
It is about 500,000 units of 155 mm caliber ammunition and 300,000 units of 122 mm caliber.
The Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Lithuania, Portugal, Canada, Luxembourg, Poland, Denmark, Latvia, France, and Slovenia have publicly announced their participation.
At the beginning of March, Pavel announced the completion of fundraising to purchase ammunition for Ukraine. The government clarified that it is only about the first batch, which contains 300,000 shells.
Later, the Czech Republic announced the possibility of purchasing another 200,000 artillery shells for Ukraine in addition to the 300,000, the purchase of which was financed earlier.
Artillery shells, which Prague will purchase, will probably start arriving in Ukraine in June.
