Poland to help deliver shells purchased under Czech plan to Ukraine
Radoslaw Sikorski (Getty Images)
Poland is set to make both logistical and financial contributions to the Czech plan aimed at boosting ammunition supplies to Ukraine through purchases outside of Europe, according to the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
"We are very happy to contribute, not only financially but to a very efficient logistical operation so that the ammunition can get to where it's needed on the front," he said at a press conference in Prague.
Poland has emerged as a key distribution hub for supplies to Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The Visegrád Group of Central and Eastern European countries has been divided over military aid to Ukraine, with Slovakia's new government joining Hungary in opting out of such initiatives.
Czech plan
In early 2024, Czech President Petr Pavel announced 800,000 units of ammunition from non-European Union countries that had agreed to sell them. This includes 500,000 shells of 155mm caliber and 300,000 of 122mm caliber.
Ukraine's allies have allocated almost all necessary funds for the purchase of 800,000 artillery shells under the Czech initiative.
Last week, a Czech official said that the first shipments are expected to arrive in Ukraine no later than June.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that Ukraine expects the first batch of artillery ammunition from the Czech initiative to arrive as early as April.
