Germany will support the Czech purchase of ammunition for Ukraine with 576 million euros

As part of the Czech initiative, Germany will provide 576 million euros (14.6 billion crowns) for the purchase of 180,000 pieces of artillery ammunition for Ukraine. Dennis Köhler, spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense, told ČTK today. Reuters previously reported on the German contribution. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius already announced in mid-March that Berlin would pay for 180,000 artillery shells, but he did not specify the specific financial amount at the time.

Pistorius also said at the time that the new German arms aid to Ukraine would be worth about 500 million euros (12.6 billion crowns). Köhler stated today that the purchase of ammunition organized by the Czech Republic is not included in this package. “This package (worth 500 million euros) does not include the Czech plan. The German share in the Czech initiative amounts to 576 million euros,” the spokesman explained. “The total value of both support measures is over one billion euros,” he added.

The amount announced by Germany is the highest so far publicly announced by any of the states involved in the Czech initiative aimed at purchasing ammunition outside the European Union. So far, around twenty countries have joined this project, from Canada to Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to Poland. A big supporter is, for example, the Netherlands, which first announced a contribution of 100 million euros and later increased it to 250 million euros (6.3 billion crowns).

The Czech Republic has the opportunity to purchase at least 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine in countries outside the EU. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala came up with the proposal to purchase ammunition outside the EU states at an extraordinary EU summit at the beginning of February, and Czech President Petr Pavel subsequently informed about the plan at the Munich Security Conference.