Germany allocates €576 million for the purchase of 180 000 artillery ammunition for Ukraine on the initiative of the Czech Republic.
This was reported to Reuters by the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of Germany. He says that Germany will account for 40% of the initiative.
Previously, Germany did not disclose the amount of its contribution. These 180 000 shells are included in the previously mentioned second stage of support for the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Germany. According to the plan, Ukraine will receive these ammunitions in the second half of 2024.
The first stage of support is the 18 000 projectiles already handed over at the end of March, and the third is a bilateral agreement between Germany and a third country to supply Ukraine with another 100 000 projectiles from about the fourth quarter.
- In February 2024, the president of the Czech Republic informed that his country, in cooperation with Canada and Denmark had found 500 000 155-mm ammunition and 300 000 122-mm shells, which can be delivered within a few weeks if the necessary funds are available. The Financial Times wrote that Prague planned to raise $1.5 billion to pay for the ammunition and asked allies to help.
- The Netherlands (€250 million), Belgium (€200 million), Norway (€140 million), Portugal (€100 million), Lithuania (€35 million), Finland (€30 million) publicly volunteered to allocate money. Almost a quarter of the ammunition — 180 000 — agreed to be financed by Germany. The United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Denmark, Latvia and Poland will contribute or have already contributed, but their amounts are unknown. The Czech Republic will also allocate funds for its own initiative.
- On March 8, the Czech Republic announced that it had collected funds for 300 000 ammunition. The first shells are promised to be delivered to Ukraine by June.
- 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, instead of 800 000, as originally planned.