Sweden will provide €30 million for a Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

The statement was published on the Swedish government’s website.

The government decided that the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) could negotiate and conclude an agreement with the responsible authority in the Czech Republic.

“Ukraine’s need for ammunition is great, especially artillery ammunition. The Czech Republic has identified opportunities to purchase large quantities of ammunition on the world market to be transferred to Ukraine, and the government wants to support the Czech Republic in this work,” said Swedish Defense Minister Paul Johnson.

The contribution to the Czech initiative is financed as part of the 15th aid package, which is currently under consideration in parliament and requires a vote on additional amendments to the budget.

Militarnyi previously reported that, in addition to the Czech ammunition procurement initiative, Ukraine wants to implement two more such campaigns by the end of the year, and is already working with partners to finance them.

The statement was made by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a joint press conference with Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihail Popșoi.

The Foreign Minister said that in addition to the Czech initiative, there are also other ones. One of them was discussed during a meeting in Vilnius of the foreign ministers from Ukraine, the Baltic states, and France. According to Kuleba, he urged his colleagues to start raising funds for this initiative from “today” onwards.

Czech initiative to help Ukraine

President Pavel announced the possibility of purchasing artillery shells for Ukraine from third countries at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February.

According to the Czech President, the country’s representatives managed to find about 500,000 155-mm artillery shells and 300,000 122-mm shells abroad.

The Financial Times reported that the total value of such contracts can reach $1.5 billion. Representatives of the Czech Republic made no comment concerning the cost of potential transactions.

According to Tomáš Kopečný, Government Commissioner for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the delivery of ammunition to Ukraine will take several months. He emphasized that the money from the partners was promised, but it is not yet on the accounts of the entities that will purchase the ammunition.

In addition, Kopečný also announced plans to expand the initiative, which will be announced after the first 800,000 artillery shells are financed.

“As soon as we manage to raise a larger amount of money, we will be talking not only about 800,000 shells, (…) but about a much larger amount of ammunition that we can deliver. It regards not only the existing ammunition, but also about the ammunition that will be produced in the coming months and years,” said Kopečný.

As previously reported, the Czech Republic announced the possibility of purchasing another 200,000 artillery shells for Ukraine.