Ukraine’s military is to receive the first of hundreds of thousands of 155-mm artillery shells as part of an international initiative to destroy foreign stockpiles.
The first shells could arrive in Ukraine within weeks as part of an initiative in which the Czech Republic acts as an intermediary linking governments willing to finance the purchase of surplus 155-mm shells from third countries, according to Jan Jires, the country’s director general for defence policy and strategy.
No information was given on which countries are financing the purchases or whose stocks are being used, but information on the deliveries is likely to be disclosed once they arrive.
Czech President Petr Pavel previously told the Munich Security Conference last month that his country had identified 500,000 155-mm and 300,000 122-mm shells that could be delivered within weeks if money is made available.
At a meeting in Paris on Monday, European leaders discussed a Czech proposal to buy ammunition from countries outside the region. The Netherlands has agreed to contribute €100 million to the plan; the Czech Republic also confirmed it had also secured prior commitments from Canada and Denmark.
The Czech Republic initiative is one way “of us demonstrating we are actually doing something, not waiting for what is going to happen on the Hill,” Jires stressed.
