The President of France Emmanuel Macron will visit Prague on Tuesday, March 5, where he will discuss with the President of the Czech Republic an initiative to purchase 800 000 artillery ammunition for Ukraine outside the European Union (EU).
Bloomberg writes about this with reference to sources.
Macron will discuss the procurement plan with the Czech president and prime minister, with a separate discussion between EU defense and foreign ministers later this week. They will agree on the details.
At the last Munich conference, the president of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel said that in cooperation with Canada and Denmark, the Czech Republic found 500 000 155-mm ammunition and 300 000 122-mm shells, which can be delivered within a few weeks, provided the necessary funds are available.
According to the Financial Times, Prague wants to raise $1.5 billion to pay for the ammunition.
- Other countries are already joining the initiative of the Czech Republic. The Netherlands has announced that it will invest €250 million in the Czech initiative to order artillery shells. Lithuania also joins.