Ukraine received 500,000 artillery shells bought outside Europe last year under an initiative spearheaded by Prague and supported by many other countries, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday.
A total of 18 countries including Canada, Germany and Portugal collected around $1.8 billion by June 2024 to buy 155mm shells for Ukraine, which has been battling Russia’s invasion since February 2022.
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The first batch was sent in June last year.
“The drive known as the Czech ammunition initiative ensured the supply of 500,000 artillery shells of the 155mm caliber,” Fiala told reporters.
He said the Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member of 10.9 million people, mediated the supply of around 1.5 million shells in total in 2024.
Prague continues to send tens of thousands of artillery shells a month to Ukraine, he added.
The ammunition drive makes up in part for the EU’s failure to meet its promise to supply one million shells to Ukraine by the end of March this year, which faltered because of limited production capacities.
Ukraine’s Western allies are competing with Russia for the purchase of ammunition in markets outside Europe.
Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said Prague needed sufficient financial backing from partners to continue the supplies, singling out Canada, Denmark, and the Netherlands as particularly generous donors.
Fiala said the West should also use Russian assets frozen after the invasion to finance military equipment supplies to Ukraine.
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The European Union has frozen roughly $235 billion of Russian central bank funds since the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine, the vast bulk of immobilized Russian assets worldwide.
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