Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine starts losing support

According to Czech President Petr Pavel, only nine countries currently support the initiative, compared to 18 last year.

"The initiative is still working, but the new difficulty is that only about nine member states are contributing financially," the Czech leader said.

He stressed that the program had been supplying up to 50% of all large-caliber ammunition for Ukraine, making it difficult to quickly replace through other mechanisms.

Pavel added that the future of the initiative should be among the topics discussed at the NATO summit in Ankara in July.

The outlet noted that since 2024, Prague has organized the delivery of more than 4 million large-caliber artillery shells to Ukraine.

However, after Andrej Babiš returned to power, the situation around the initiative began to change. During the election campaign, he criticized the program and argued that Czech citizens should not pay for weapons for Ukraine.

FT writes that such rhetoric has started to raise concerns among Czechia’s partners.

According to one Western military official, "some countries now feel that it is strange to pay for something that is not even properly supported by the ruling politicians of the lead country."

Despite this, Germany and several Nordic countries remain among the participants in the program.

Babiš himself told FT that his government is forced to focus on Czechia’s domestic problems, including high household costs following the conflict with Iran.

"We don’t have money, so we are receiving money from other countries, and then we deliver the ammunition," he said.

During last year’s campaign, Babiš also threatened to completely halt the initiative, criticizing it for alleged lack of transparency and possible benefits for the Czech defense group CSG.

CSG became the Czech government’s main corporate partner in purchasing and recommissioning artillery shells from non-NATO countries for transfer to Ukraine.

CSG owner and CEO Michal Strnad said that after the change of government, the initiative was effectively left in limbo for several months due to legal issues that did not satisfy the new administration.

However, he said it is still too early to talk about the failure of the program or a significant reduction in supplies to Ukraine.

Strnad explained that some donor countries have simply started purchasing ammunition directly from manufacturers, bypassing the Czech mechanism.

"The initiative is not dead, it’s still working, but it’s a bit slow," he stressed.

Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine

The Czech ammunition initiative became one of the key mechanisms for supplying ammunition to Ukraine during the war with Russia.

Recently, however, the project has faced funding problems. After the change of government in Czechia and reduced contributions from some partners, media reports say the available funds now cover less than half of the required deliveries.