Estonia finds million rounds for Ukraine - defense chief names condition for purchase

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said this in an interview with Postimees, Ukrinform reports.

The head of the Estonian Ministry of Defense did not specify which projectiles could be purchased but Postimees suggests this is about a million projectiles for Grad MLR systems.

According to Pevkur, there are four main elements to the defense assistance to Ukraine: munitions, air defense, armored vehicles, and electronic warfare.

"As far as munitions are concerned, funding is now more of a concern than the availability of shells. It was implied there was not enough ammunition, but the Czech initiative to purchase 800,000 shells shows that ammunition is out there. Estonia also sees a wide selection of countries where we could purchase shells for Ukraine," the minister noted.

He added that the country has the opportunity to quickly procure a large amount of ammunition, mainly from non-European nations, for Ukraine and deliver them within two months. At the same time, the Estonian minister did not name specific sellers.

“Since the orders include 155 mm as well as 152 mm shells, Russia is also actively searching globally for suppliers via Belarus (155 mm are utilized by NATO artillery systems and the Russian army employs 152 mm shells – ed.). There's a bit of a race against time to see who can secure them first," Pevkur said.

As reported, the Czech Republic initiated the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine in third countries with EU money. It was about 800,000 rounds found in different parts of the world.

Photo: Ministry of Defense Estonia