Ukraine has received more than one-third of the 500,000 rounds of ammunition planned for delivery in 2024 under the Czech initiative.

Ambassador of Ukraine to the Czech Republic Vasyl Zvarych said this in an interview with the Czech media outlet ČTK.

At the same time, Ukraine is negotiating with the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces of the Czech Republic to expand the initiative.

The ambassador also said that he had not been aware of any problems with ammunition, which had recently been reported by the German newspaper Handelsblatt. According to the newspaper, Ukraine complained in a letter to the Czech Republic in August that some of the artillery shells had exploded prematurely, endangering Ukrainian soldiers and equipment.

“I have not seen any letters from Ukrainian officials. I think this is more of an attempt to discredit the initiative. This should not happen because it is a great initiative. It really helps our soldiers on the battlefield,” Zvarych said.

In addition to working on extending the initiative, the negotiations are also underway with the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces of Czech Republic to attract funding from this project to Ukrainian production.

“Ukraine has increased its capabilities, but we need certain financial resources to develop them even further and to be able to produce smaller caliber ammunition,” the ambassador explains.

The Czech initiative

In February 2024, the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, announced that his country had found an opportunity to purchase about 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine.

The country’s representatives managed to locate about 500,000 155 mm artillery shells and 300,000 122 mm shells abroad. Subsequently, the Czech Republic reported that they had located additional 200,000 artillery shells but did not provide details on the caliber or other information.

The first shells under this initiative were delivered in June 2024. As the Czech president noted at that time, Ukraine was to receive 50,000 artillery shells in July and August, and 80,000 to 100,000 per month from September to the end of the year.

In July 2024, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský announced that the Czech Republic was seeking funds to purchase ammunition for the Ukrainian Defense Forces in 2025 as part of its initiative.

In August 2024, it became known that the Czech Republic would use the proceeds of the Russian assets frozen in the EU for its initiative. This was announced by Czech Defense Minister Jana Černochová. Thanks to these funds, the Czech initiative project will be able to purchase hundreds of thousands more large-caliber ammunition.