Fiala hopes that Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine will be long-lasting one
The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, hopes that other countries will join Prague's initiative on ammunition for Ukraine, and that those already involved will continue to make financial contributions.
The politician said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
"Currently, 15 countries are directly involved in the Czech ammunition initiative, and we believe and do our best to ensure that other countries join and that the current countries continue their support next year," Fiala said.
He noted that the first artillery shells were delivered to Ukraine in June, and that deliveries will continue at the projected pace in the coming months.
"By the end of the year, the Ukrainian army will have received about 500,000 units of 155 mm ammunition. It is important to note that this is not the end of the assistance," the politician stressed.
At the same time, he assured that in parallel, Ukraine is supplied with "hundreds of thousands of other large-calibre ammunition every year".
Fiala reminded that the Czech Republic had launched its ammunition initiative because Ukraine was critically short of ammunition.
As reported, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala presented an initiative to purchase ammunition around the world for EU money with a view to handing it over to Ukraine in January at a meeting of EU heads of state and government. In February, Czech President Petr Pavel publicly announced it on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.