Borrell: Ukraine will receive the first ammunition from the Czech initiative in May-June

Ukraine will receive the first batch of ammunition from the Czech initiative within the next two months.

This was said by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell at a press conference on April 22.

"We must not forget about the lack of 155-mm caliber shells for conventional combat. Many countries have joined the Czech initiative to find ammunition around the world. The first supplies will arrive at the end of May — beginning of June," he said.

Czech initiative

In February, Czech President Petr Pavel said that his country had found a way to get 800,000 shells for Ukraine, but needed funding for this.

Already in March, the Czech Republic together with its partners managed to collect part of the funds for the purchase of the first batch of 300,000 artillery shells for Ukraine.

On March 26, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavsky, said that Ukraine could receive 1.5 million shells within the framework of the Czech initiative.

On April 16, the Czech Republic contracted the first 180,000 ammunition for Ukraine.

The full list of countries financing the initiative is not announced. However, it is known that Finland, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, Canada, France, Poland and Belgium have already joined it.

It is interesting that Slovakia did not join the initiative, but the citizens of the country independently collected €3 million for it.