The Czech Republic has initiated an international fundraising operation aimed at buying ammunition for the Ukrainian army. EU countries had committed to supplying Kiev with one million shells before the end of last March, but they were unable, due to a lack of sufficient production capacity, to deliver them.
Prague, however, assured that it had identified significant stocks of shells, for a total of some 800,000 pieces, available for purchase outside the European continent. According to the head of the Czech government, there is no reason why donor countries should not be able to "provide an additional million shells over the next twelve months." The countries participating in this initiative also include the Baltic States, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, and Slovenia, the Czech press reported. The first deliveries could take place in June, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday. He had previously indicated that the first deliveries of 500,000 shells could be made in June. But Tomas Kopecny, Czech Commissioner for the reconstruction of Ukraine, estimated on Czech radio on Tuesday that it could cost twice as much.