Czech-arranged ammunition shipments to Ukraine are increasing, says defense ministry
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Artillery rounds are seen as New Jersey Army National Guard soldiers prepare to conduct a fire mission with a M777 155mm Howitzer as part of a training exercise in Northeast Syria, Oct. 30, 2024. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bruce Daddis via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service - DVIDS)
By Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE - Czech-arranged shipments of artillery ammunition to Ukraine are rising this year, proving partners' trust in a government programme matching donations from NATO partners with offers to sell ammunition, the Czech Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
As Ukraine suffered from shortage of ammunition last year, the Czechs set up a team which has together with private companies searched for available ammunition stocks and new production around the world.
The available ammunition batches are being offered to donor countries, which then pick which they want to finance.
The programme, which makes use of the Czechs' traditional arms trading contacts, has been a flagship of the centre-right government's international efforts to help Ukraine fight Russia's aggression. It has also donated heavy equipment and other material worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Director Ales Vytecka of the defence ministry's AMOS international cooperation agency said that so far this year, shipments totalled 850,000 shells, including 320,000 NATO artillery 155mm calibre projectiles.
This compares with 1.5 million total, including 500,000 155-mm shells, throughout 2024.
Andrej Babis, head of the Czech opposition ANO party that leads opinion polls ahead of an election in October, vowed to scrap the initiative if ANO returns to power, saying in a Reuters interview this week the programme was overpriced and untransparent.
Vytecka rejected criticism of drive, saying there was as much transparency as security concerns allowed.
"Clear and undeniable proof of the satisfaction of our partners is the fact that in 2025 donors' contributions have significantly risen," Vytecka said.
So far this year, contributions have risen by 29% compared with the whole of 2024, he said without giving concrete sums, adding that countries raising their contributions included Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark.
He said donor countries always decided themselves which supplies and at what prices they would finance, and the offers were subject to audits in individual donor countries.
The Czechs have mostly acted as an intermediary. The government said last year it allocated around 35 million euros for ammunition purchases from a Czech supplier.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Alexandra Hudson // REUTERS)
