This was reported by espreso.tv

At the final briefing in Prague on March 21 after the meeting in the Visegrad format, the foreign ministers of Slovakia and Hungary said that they would not participate in financing the Czech initiative to purchase 800,000 artillery shells for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

"Hungary has not and will not provide any weapons to Ukraine. We are not involved in any joint efforts that turn into joint arms supplies. At the same time, we are continuing the largest humanitarian operation in the history of Hungary," said Hungarian Minister Péter Szijjártó.

His Slovak counterpart Juraj Blanár also spoke out against providing Ukraine with weapons and confirmed that Bratislava would not participate in the Czech initiative and would not send lethal weapons to Ukraine, as they believe "this conflict has no military solution".

Czech Initiative to Purchase Ammunition for Ukraine: What is Known

On February 17, it became known that the Czech Republic had found sources of supply of 800 thousand artillery rounds abroad. It is about 500 thousand units of 155 mm ammunition and 300 thousand units of 122 mm caliber.

The Netherlands publicly announced its participation, which donated 100 million euros for the purchase of ammunition. The initiative was also supported by Germany and Norway.

On February 22, it became known that Canada is ready to allocate up to $22 million for shells for Ukraine. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Сroo also said that the country would finance the Czech initiative with €200 million. Later, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrid Šimonite said that her country would contribute to the Czech Republic's multilateral initiative to purchase and transfer artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

On March 2, the Czech Republic said that it would be able to make the first deliveries of ammunition to Kyiv in a few weeks.

On March 8, Czech President Petr Pavel announced that the fundraising for the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine had been completed. The government clarified that it was only the first batch of 300 thousand shells.

On March 12, the Czech Republic announced the possibility of purchasing another 200 thousand artillery shells for Ukraine in addition to the 300 thousand previously financed, The Czech government said that the artillery shells, which will be purchased at the initiative of Prague, are likely to start arriving in Ukraine in June.

On March 15, the Portuguese Ministry of Defense announced that it would allocate 100 million euros to the Czech initiative to search for ammunition for Ukraine.

On March 19, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkänen announced that the government would allocate 30 million euros to purchase ammunition for Ukraine as part of the Czech initiative.

On March 21, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky announced the receipt of the first 300 thousand rounds of ammunition as part of the initiative to help Ukraine.