Kuleba praises Czechia’s ammo initiative, admits more such efforts must find funding
This was stated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, who wpoke as a joint briefing with his Moldovan counterpart Mihai Popsoi in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy said he would be contacting with his Czech colleagues later this week to hear the detailed plan for the supply of additional artillery rounds.
"According to tentative signals we received, our guys at the frontlines will feel an increase in the supply of artillery shells in the foreseeable future. That is, it won’t take months," said Kuleba.
He added that the Czech initiative is designed to be implemented throughout the year.
"The first batch of rounds will start arriving, let's say, in the foreseeable future. And then, within a year, more batches will be arriving," the minister said.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that, in addition to the Czech initiatives, there are also other ones that are being explored. One of them was discussed during his meeting in Vilnius with his Baltic and French counterparts. According to Kuleba, he urged top diplomats to start raising money for those initiatives as early as “today”.
"The Czech initiative is good, but it’s not enough. Therefore, the financial issue of the Czech initiative was resolved today, and financial issues of other similar initiatives should be resolved tomorrow. They do exist, and we are aware of that. The only thing missing for their implementation is financial resources," the minister noted.
According to his outlook, if the other two initiatives will see success this year, in addition to the Czech effort, Russian invaders in Ukraine will experience "much more significant problems at the front."
"That's why we thanked everyone for the Czech initiative: "Well done, we're done with that, the initiative is working", and now we need to secure funding for the implementation of other similar initiatives, and we're already working on that,” Kuleba assured.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, Tomáš Pojar, a national security adviser to the Czech Prime Minister, said ammunition purchased beyond the EU as part of the Czech initiative may arrive in Ukraine as early as June.
To date, more than 15 countries have undertaken to finance the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine. Among them are Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Norway, as well as non-European NATO Allies, such as Canada. The Czech Republic works to locate available munitions worldwide, while other nations provide the necessary funding before Czechia coordinates the delivery of ammunition to Ukraine.
