Czech initiative 2025: How many shells Ukraine will receive
Photo: Petr Fiala, Prime Minister of Czechia (Getty Images)
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated that this year, Ukraine will receive 1.8 million shells under the Czech initiative, The Guardian reports.
He emphasized that the Czech Republic has already organized the delivery of 3.7 million artillery shells to Ukraine, including 1.3 million this year.
Fiala also noted that the funding for these deliveries came from the initiative itself, as well as revenue from frozen Russian assets, bilateral cooperation, and Ukraine’s direct purchases.
Foreign donors have provided 93.3 billion crowns ($4.5 billion) to a Czech-led initiative to find and deliver large-calibre ammunition to Ukraine, and Czechia has contributed 1.7 billion crowns, Defense Minister Jana Černochová said.
The report notes that the increase in ammunition deliveries in 2024 and 2025 has helped reduce Ukraine's disadvantage compared to Russia on the front lines. However, it remains unclear whether Czechia will continue the initiative under the next government.
The Czech initiative
In February 2024, Czech President Petr Pavel announced plans to gather 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine's armed forces. The first batch of shells arrived in Ukraine in June 2024.
Recently, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha confirmed that the country plans to receive an additional 1.8 million artillery shells by the end of the year under the Czech initiative.
At the same time, former Czech Prime Minister and current leader of the opposition ANO movement, Andrej Babiš, intends to abandon the shell initiative if his party comes to power following the parliamentary elections in Czechia this fall.
Read more about the risk of losing Czech support for Ukraine in the material by RBC-Ukraine.
