It is not known where they come from nor should it be known, but the thousands of projectiles that Prague claims to have located are more than welcome by the European Union and, above all, by their ultimate recipient, the Ukrainian army. The shortage of ammunition on the front is so serious that, according to different estimates by Western analysts, Kyiv's soldiers can currently only afford to fire one projectile for every five or six fired by the invading army. Their recent withdrawal from Avdiivka in Donetsk is a direct consequence of this shortage, which could be fatal for Ukraine if not resolved in the coming months, but help is on the way.
Managed with the utmost discretion, the initiative announced in mid-February by the president of the Czech Republic, former general Petr Pavel, at the Munich security conference is beginning to gain cruising speed and will allow 300,000 155-caliber projectiles to be sent to the Ukrainian front. mm in June and 500,000 more, of 122 mm, at the end of the year, according to the Executive of the Central European country and the information handled in Brussels.
The list of countries that will contribute money to the Czech pot is extensive and public: Germany, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands, Finland, Lithuania, Belgium, Portugal... What remains a secret is where Prague has found these mountains of ammunition in a time of scarcity like the current one, but discretion is justified. Among its suppliers, it is suspected, there may be allies of Russia.
While the –failed– initiative launched a year ago by the EU to buy one million projectiles and send them to Kyiv within twelve months was based on the signing of contracts with the European arms industry, the Czech initiative is based on the acquisition of existing material. In particular, projectiles that non-European countries have in their warehouses but, for political reasons, refuse to sell directly to Ukraine. Among the potential sellers, according to journalistic information, would be South Africa, Turkey and South Korea.
Prague is skillfully pulling its strings for Kyiv's benefit. Due to its history, due to its Soviet past, it maintains good contacts with the so-called Global South and has a powerful arms industry that has been reactivated to prepare old or unused military material to send it to Ukraine, as Czechoslovak is doing, for example. Group at its Sternberk facilities. Discreetly, the Czech Ministry of Defense has been in contact with suppliers around the world for months and has located thousands of projectiles whose owners are willing to sell it, as an intermediary, on condition that their origin is not revealed.
The Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, announced at the beginning of the month that with the contribution of 140 million committed by the Norwegian Government they have raised enough money to purchase the first 300,000 projectiles and that they will arrive in Ukraine in June. But it is not only about finding the money to buy them but also closing the contracts and negotiating the necessary export licenses between manufacturers and owners of the material.
The other challenge is the transfer, without leaving a trace, of the projectiles to Ukraine. Poland's Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, met this week with Pavel and announced that, in addition to providing funds to the Czech boat, he will collaborate in the logistical part of the plan. The German Government, for its part, has confirmed that it will donate 300 million euros to the Czech boat, an amount with which 180,000 projectiles can be purchased.
The Netherlands and Denmark also collaborate with Prague. Its leaders addressed the plan on the sidelines of the summit held these days in Brussels but no details have emerged. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte only said that the ammunition will arrive “short term” in Ukraine. “We will probably need more initiatives like this, we cannot wait forever for the US to decide,” said Belgian Alexander De Croo, alluding to the blocking of aid in Congress by order of Trump.
European leaders yesterday endorsed the Czech initiative, which “will contribute to the rapid fulfillment of the EU's commitment to deliver one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine,” the summit conclusions state. “There is no competition, everyone who participates in the initiative will be reimbursed,” says the high representative of EU Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, who clarifies that the European Peace Fund also allows purchase invoices to be passed. made outside the EU.
“The leaders know that it is urgent to get more aid to Ukraine, we are trying to use all the tools at our disposal,” reiterated the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, after the summit, listing everything from increasing the production capacity of ammunition European industry (it will go from 500,000 to 1.2 million annually at the end of 2024), the budget of 5,000 million for the new military aid fund for Ukraine or the proposal to dedicate the 3,000 million euros in interest generated each year by Russian assets frozen in Europe to arm their army.
This initiative, which has yet to be approved, is the most limited version of all those managed by the G-7, since it does not touch capital itself as Washington proposes to do, but it has also unleashed the wrath of Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned of “catastrophic consequences” for banks, countries and the European economy in general if that money is “expropriated.” “Russia does not intimidate us, it is fair that the returns from these assets go to Ukraine,” Michel replied. An intermediate option supported by Belgium consists of using the assets (191 billion) as collateral for a debt issue for the benefit of Kyiv, which would make it possible to obtain a return on them without expropriating them. “It is too early” to take that step, De Croo concluded.
