Funds for the purchase of ammunition were provided by six countries, including Germany and Portugal

This was reported by Tomáš Kopeční, the Czech government's representative for Ukraine. According to him, the first few tens of thousands of shells will arrive in June, and the total number of shells will be between 50 and 100 thousand.

Kopečni noted that six countries have so far provided funds for the Czech initiative, which aimed to collect 1 million shells for Ukraine. Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Canada and the Czech Republic have already financed the purchase of the shells. Germany has allocated €600 million, Portugal €100 million, and the amount of the remaining contributions has not been announced.

According to Kopeční, there are now financial resources and the ability to purchase 500,000 shells for Ukraine and deliver them this year. This would cost €1.7 billion.

On February 17, it became known that the Czech Republic had found sources of supply abroad for hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds that it could deliver to Ukraine within a few weeks. The Netherlands publicly announced its participation, donating €100 million for the purchase of ammunition. France will also join the initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine outside the EU. The initiative was also supported by Germany and Norway.

On February 22, it became known that Canada was ready to allocate up to $22 million for shells for Ukraine. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said that the country would finance the Czech initiative with €200 million.

On March 2, the Czech Republic said it would be able to make the first deliveries of ammunition to Kyiv in a few weeks. Later, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said that her country would facilitate the Czech Republic's multilateral initiative to purchase and transfer artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

On May 9, Czech President Petr Pavel said that the first delivery under the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine is likely to take place in June: 180,000 rounds of ammunition are planned to be transferred.