WSJ: Czech Republic finds 800,000 shells for Ukraine by activating its Cold War contacts
Czech Republic used mainly contacts in the Global South
According to the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal, the Czech Republic has purchased a large batch of ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, activating its Cold War contacts.
This country, which is "one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters," has thus received about 800,000 artillery shells from various suppliers around the world and found another 700,000 shells that could be purchased with additional funds, the newspaper reported.
At the same time, Prague started looking for ammunition for Ukraine shortly before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the newspaper writes, citing Czech officials who carried out a secret procurement plan bypassing the EU and NATO bureaucracies.
According to them, the former Eastern bloc member still has a military industry with customers around the world and good relations with many countries in the Global South.
The interlocutors did not disclose which countries are among the suppliers, but said that there are "several allies of Russia" among them.
According to the WSJ, the package includes 300,000 Soviet-style munitions and about 500,000 Western-made ones.
They will be delivered to Ukraine in several batches by the end of this year, and additional ammunition will be available as funding becomes available, the newspaper said, citing Czech officials.
The cost of all 1.5 million shells is 3.3 billion euros. Deliveries to Ukraine will begin in the next few weeks.
In mid-February, during the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel announced the country's intention to supply Ukraine with 500,000 155 mm artillery shells and 300,000 122 mm shells within a few weeks.
Pavel proposed to purchase the ammunition from third countries. According to him, such a deal would only be possible with the financial participation of other Ukraine's allies.
The day before, Pavel said that 18 European countries, including France, Germany and Belgium, had joined the initiative to purchase the shells.
The Czech Republic's initiative to supply Ukraine with ammunition was then publicly supported by NATO and EU officials, as well as representatives of many countries, including Germany. Berlin has promised to allocate more than €500 million for this purpose, which is the largest contribution among all the participants in the initiative, the WSJ writes, citing Czech officials.
It was also reported that Portugal would allocate 100 million euros for the Czech Republic's initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine.
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