The Czech Republic contracted the first 180 000 ammunition for Ukraine

As part of its initiative to find and purchase artillery ammunition for Ukraine, the Czech Republic has already contracted for the first 180 000 shells.

This was reported by the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala in a column for the Financial Times.

"In the coming months, they will be delivered to the Ukrainian front. We would never have achieved such promising results without the strong initial support of Denmark and the Netherlands — and around 20 other countries who later joined us by pledging to help," he said.

And he added that the Czech Republic is also preparing contracts for another 300 000 ammunition.

According to him, during the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the Czech Republic supplied the Defense Forces of Ukraine with more than a million large-caliber ammunition. The Czech side is trying to create a reliable ammunition supply mechanism that will affect the situation at the front.

"For this, we use our unique experience, which is based on long-term support of Ukraine, the strength of our defense industry and our historically established contacts in third countries," explained the prime minister.

The Czech munitions initiative has another goal: to give the West more time to adapt as the war "changes our world, the days of complacency are over." Petr Fiala believes that the Western world needs to create a security policy that includes more substantial investments in defense to deter aggressors.

"All these changes are happening: we are investing much more in the security and modernization of our defense forces. NATO is expanding. And even those figures in individual countries who until recently believed that reasonable negotiations with Russia could be conducted are now fully aware of their share of responsibility," Petr Fiala summarized.

• The Czech Republic, together with its partners, managed to collect part of the funds for the purchase of the first batch of artillery shells for Ukraine. Itʼs about 300 000 ammunition out of the 800 000 promised. The country continues to look for partners to further support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian aggressor. Germany, France, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway have already agreed to participate in the initiative.