The promised money for Ukraine is enough for 500 thousand pieces of artillery ammunition

From the money that has been collected so far as part of the Czech initiative to support the defending Ukraine, it would be possible to buy roughly half a million pieces of artillery ammunition.

This follows from the answers given to Seznam Zpráv questions by the Ministry of Defense, whose agency AMOS helps mediate the deals.

“Currently, within the framework of the initiative, funding is promised for the purchase of approximately 500,000 pieces of ammunition. We will not state the detailed amount,” said the department led by Minister Jana Černochová (ODS), adding that the Czech Republic is now cooperating with “approximately” 18 countries as part of this initiative. For several weeks, the leadership of the ministry has been gradually preparing and signing “memorandums of understanding” with partner states.

Back in March, the ministers talked about the fact that the money would be enough to buy 300,000 pieces of ammunition. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský (Pirates) joined the debate regarding the purchase of military equipment today. He stated in front of journalists in Brussels that more money needs to be raised for the Czech initiative.

According to the Department of Defense, Ukraine should receive the first pieces of ammunition in June, and supplies are to be gradually increased. According to the ministry, the goal is to deliver 800,000 pieces of ammunition to Ukraine by the end of this year.

Czech President Petr Pavel was the first to speak about the 800,000 pieces of ammunition that can be obtained for Ukraine in the world in February at the Munich Security Conference. “We have identified half a million pieces of 155-millimeter ammunition and 300,000 pieces of 122-millimeter ammunition,” he said at the time.

The Brussels server Politico previously reported that the Czech Republic is interested in ammunition from arms companies in, for example, South Korea, Turkey or the Republic of South Africa. However, the actual countries of origin are still unknown.

For security reasons, the Ministry of Defense does not even want to say which continents the purchased ammunition will come from. However, the resort rules out that there would be any fundamental problem with finding military equipment.

“We will not provide any details or instructions about source countries. In general, it can be said that there are still more sources of ammunition than the currently allocated funds, and to our positive surprise, they are increasing,” the ministry replied to Seznam Zprávám.

However, the resort did not comment on many questions. For example, he did not say how much of the promised money actually already lies in the accounts in the Czech Republic, nor how much money the Czech Republic itself participates in the purchase. At the same time, the failure to provide data on the Czech contribution to the government is blamed by the parliamentary opposition.

“The shadow government does not contradict the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine. We do not agree with the procedure of the government, which decided on investments in this activity in a secret regime, even though it is public funds,” Fial’s cabinet was criticized by shadow prime minister for the ANO movement Karel Havlíček last week.

The list of reports did not even learn what volume of ammunition is already firmly secured by the signed contracts.

“It is logical that when states send each other finances in the hundreds of millions of euros, that the given process must be built on a solid contractual framework and agreed to the last detail. It is possible to say that it is always the donor country that makes the final decision on what ammunition will be purchased,” the Ministry of Defense said in response.

The list The news wanted to know at what prices ammunition is bought in the world and whether there are any price caps as part of this project to support Ukraine.

“These are current market prices. The ceiling is always the sovereign decision of the donor country as to whether it will finance the given ammunition at a specific price and with a defined delivery time,” the ministry said regarding the purchase system.

The countries that pay for the purchases also decide, in coordination with the Czech Ministry and the supplier, how the ammunition will be transported to Ukraine within the framework of each partial contract. “No methods are excluded,” the ministry responded to the question of whether the arsenal from third countries will be transported by water, or rather by air.

According to unofficial information, some private Czech companies and their traders are involved to a large extent in the purchase of ammunition. At the same time, it is not clear what commissions they have been promised from the mentioned contracts. It is clear from the ministry’s answers that it depends mainly on the financing states how high the amounts are willing to accept.

“This matter is determined by the decision whether the donor country is willing to finance the given project. In general, it can be said that within the framework of long-term assistance to Ukraine, Czech companies are among the proven and one of the main suppliers. This logically means that for these proven and main suppliers, the commissions are quite viable for Ukrainian end users as well as for Western funders,” the Ministry of Defense said.

According to the Czech Ministry of Defense, if the entire system of purchasing from third countries proves successful, it should continue next year. As long as Ukrainians suffer from shortages.

“We are already discussing the possible continuation of the supply system, if the partner states are willing to continue funding until the EU and NATO countries – as well as Ukraine – are able to produce ammunition from their own capacities,” the Ministry of Defense said in its current response.