Czech initiative speeds up ammunition deliveries to Ukraine
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky announced on Monday in Brussels that, thanks to the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition worldwide, 100,000 pieces of this weaponry will be delivered to Ukraine in July and August. In the following months, the pace of deliveries to Kyiv is planned to accelerate.
We will send about 100,000 more pieces in July and August, and these deliveries will accelerate in September, Lipavsky told reporters in Brussels before the meeting of the foreign ministers of the member states.
At the end of May, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced that 15 EU and NATO countries had contributed over 1.6 billion euros (approximately 1.4 billion pounds) to the Czech initiative to purchase artillery ammunition for Ukraine from third countries, which has been defending against a full-scale Russian invasion for over two years.
18 countries have joined
According to Defence Minister Jana Černochová, 18 countries had signed a memorandum with Czechia on participation in this initiative by the second half of June.
The Czech ammunition initiative, announced by President Petr Pavel, initially envisioned purchasing 500,000 155 mm calibre artillery shells and 300,000 122 mm calibre shells for Ukraine.
