The Czech Republic has finalised the transfer of 1.8 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine that it promised to provide in 2025, the country’s Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who is completing his tenure, said.
“I promised that this year we will provide 1,800,000 pieces of large-calibre ammunition to the Ukrainian defenders. I am glad that today I can confirm: we have achieved this goal,” he wrote.
Czech President Petr Pavel on 9 December appointed billionaire Andrej Babiš, head of the ANO (“Action of Disgruntled Citizens”) movement, as the new prime minister. Babiš has been in opposition to the pro-European and pro-Ukrainian government of Petr Fiala for the past four years.
Earlier, in February 2024, the Czech Republic said it had found sources of hundreds of thousands of shells supplied to Ukraine from abroad. Among the found ammunition there are 500 thousand shells of 155 mm calibre and another 300 thousand shells of 122 mm calibre. Such stockpiles were found in an unnamed country outside the EU.
Prague subsequently recovered more than one million rounds of ammunition as part of the project.
About 20 countries have joined the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine, including Canada, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain and Slovenia.
The first munitions under the Czech initiative began to be delivered last year in June. According to the country’s government, it sent about 1.5 million munitions to Ukraine during 2024, a third of which are 155 mm calibre.
The Czech Republic has promised that it will continue the mechanism for purchasing shells for the Ukrainian army in 2025, during which it will send 1.8 million ammunition.