EU countries to buy 800,000 shells for Ukraine - Bloomberg
Macron to discuss initiative with Fiala during visit to Prague
EU countries intend to support the Czech Republic's proposal to purchase 800,000 shells for Ukraine outside the bloc.
This decision may be announced by the end of the week by French President Emmanuel Macron, who is travelling to Prague for talks on 5 March.
Bloomberg reports this with reference to three informed sources.
According to one of them, the purchase of ammunition will be financed not by EU funds, such as the European Peace Fund, but by bilateral contributions from member states. The Czech Republic itself will take over the procurement process.
Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as France, support the Czech proposal. In particular, the Netherlands has already pledged €100 million for this purpose. Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, and non-EU Canada have also made preliminary commitments.
Poland has also expressed its readiness to support the initiative, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said after meeting with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk in Prague last week.
Macron also intends to discuss the initiative with Fiala during his visit to Prague. Later, EU defence and foreign ministers are expected to hold separate talks on the purchase.
At the same time, some EU members consider the Czech Republic's statement about the number of missiles for Kyiv "too optimistic," Bloomberg sources said. In particular, the French authorities are studying how much ammunition is actually available at the moment.
In February, Czech President Petr Pavel said at the Munich Security Conference that the country had found 500,000 155 mm and 300,000 122 mm shells that could be purchased for Kyiv outside the bloc.
EU leaders then discussed Prague's proposal at the Paris summit. Kyiv may receive the first batch of these shells within a few weeks.
Background. Meanwhile, it was reported that France may send special forces to Ukraine to create "strategic ambiguity" for Russia.
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