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purchased through the Czech initiative to Kyiv. In addition, another 100,000 shells are expected to arrive in the fourth quarter as Germany has signed an ammunition purchase agreement with one more country. For its part, the Czech government has increased its contribution to its own initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine from third countries, but the amount has yet to be disclosed.
- Shells
The Czech Republic has sourced 1.5 million shells worth €3.3B for Ukraine through Cold War contacts. The Czech Republic received about 800,000 artillery shells from various suppliers worldwide and found another 700,000 shells that could be bought with additional funds. The cost for all 1.5 million projectiles is €3.3B. Prague began looking for ammunition for Ukraine shortly before the beginning of the full-scale invasion two years ago, said Czech officials who secretly procured projectiles in order to bypass EU and NATO bureaucratic apparatuses. They said that the Czech Republic has maintained contacts in the military industry with customers around the world and good relations with many countries of the Global South. Among the suppliers of ammunition, several countries are actually allies of Russia. According to the WSJ, the purchased package includes 300,000 rounds of Soviet-style ammunition and about 500,000 Western-made ammunition. They will be delivered to Ukraine in several batches by the end of this year.
Prague's ammunition initiative may supply 1.5 million shells to Ukraine, Czech FM says. "We can do much more than the initially announced number," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told Bloomberg, saying that the number may be as high as 1.5 million.
The Czech Republic has already handed over 300,000 shells to Ukraine as of March 21, and Lithuania has joined the initiative and is providing €35M.The Czech Republic has delivered 300,000 shells to Ukraine, which should provide a vital "rest for a few months" on the front line, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavskyi said. He added that Prague was ready to supply thousands of additional artillery shells to Ukraine just weeks after it announced an initiative to obtain much-needed supplies from outside the EU. "Prague cannot stand aside and watch Ukraine remain without help. We have direct experience obtained through 40 years of being a satellite of Moscow, a country into which Russian tanks invaded in 1968 to suppress the Prague Spring,” Lipavsky said. At the same time, as the Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrid Šimonite reported, the Lithuanian government allocated €35M to purchase ammunition for Ukraine through the Czech initiative.
Borrell confirms EU delivery of 500,000 shells to Ukraine by end of March. The EU has delivered 500,000 of the promised 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine and aims to deliver the total amount by the end of the year, the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in his blog on March 25.
Russia producing 3 times more shells than US, Europe can provide to Ukraine. Russia is set to produce nearly three times as many artillery munitions as the U.S. and Europe this year, CNN reported on March 11, citing NATO intelligence estimates and unnamed sources familiar with the matter. Russia produces 200% more artillery shells than the US and EU combined for Ukraine. According to NATO intelligence data, Russia produces about 250,000 artillery munitions per month, or about three million per year. Together, the US and Europe can produce only about 1.2 million rounds of ammunition for Ukraine annually. The US military has set a goal of producing 100,000 artillery shells a month by the end of 2025, less than half of Russia's monthly output, and even that number is now out of reach because $60B in funding for Ukraine
24 UKRAINE Country Report April 2024 www.intellinews.com