The Czech Ministry of Defense is preparing to launch a new initiative to supply Ukraine with artillery shells in 2025.

Czech ammunition manufacturers will participate.

Defense Minister Jana Černochová announced this.

According to her, the project, tentatively titled Initiative 2025, will involve five Czech arms companies that will produce shells at the expense of donor countries that support Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders.

Currently, the Intergovernmental Defense Cooperation Agency under the Czech Ministry of Defense is collecting information from arms companies about what they will be able to supply to Ukraine next year.

Černochová noted that the Czech Republic will again act as an intermediary between donor countries and manufacturers who have already supplied ammunition under the first Czech initiative.

She emphasized that this is a continuation of an already working mechanism and explained the importance of timely funding for long-term contracts.

“This is a natural extension of the existing mechanism. In addition, the sooner donors allocate funds, the sooner our companies will sign long-term contracts,” the Minister said.

The donors should be mainly European countries. Negotiations on financial participation in the initiative may begin as early as the end of this summer.

According to the Czech publication Deník N, the second project will involve five companies: Czechoslovak Group, STV Group, Omnipol, Colt CZ Group SE, and DSS.

Previously, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský stated that the Czech Republic is seeking funds to purchase ammunition for the Ukrainian Defense Forces in 2025 as part of its initiative.

The Minister stated that 18 countries had already joined the initiative, of which 15 had fulfilled their obligations and had made their contribution. Monetary contributions from the countries that have joined the initiative allow Prague to hand over 500,000 rounds to Kyiv by the end of the year.