In February, Czech President Petr Pavel promised to provide Ukraine with 800,000 artillery shells. However, the first 45,000 of them arrived in Ukraine only in June, and only 500,000 shells are expected to be delivered by the end of the year. This is much less than the originally planned volume.
One of the reasons for the decrease in the number of shells is insufficient funding of the initiative, although this is not the only and not the most important problem. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic emphasized that if the partner countries do not increase their contributions, the planned goal can be achieved only by a third. Most of the countries have not yet made their payments, which also affected the reduction of deliveries.
Another important reason is the increase in ammunition prices due to increased demand in the world market. According to Tomasz Kopechna, the former deputy defense minister of the Czech Republic, the cost of the planned 800,000 shells has increased significantly, doubling the initial estimate of 1.5 billion euros. Since then, market prices have quadrupled.
In addition, Russia is actively trying to influence the suppliers of ammunition, in particular from South Africa, South Korea and Turkey, trying to prevent supplies to Ukraine. Agreements are often made on the principle of "whoever pays first gets it." Therefore, if you delay payment, you may find that the ammunition has already gone to another buyer, perhaps even to Russia.
Also, the Czech Republic plans to deliver only 155-mm shells, while earlier there was talk of an additional 300,000 122-mm shells used in Soviet guns. This is a significant problem, as the Ukrainian army still has a significant number of Soviet weapons that require such projectiles. However, the number of manufacturers of such ammunition, which are not under the influence of Russia, is very limited.
Much of the ammunition purchased in Africa and Asia is of poor quality and requires repair. This applies not only to Western suppliers, but also to supplies to Russia, some of which have been of poor quality, such as artillery shells from North Korea.
It is currently unknown how many more Czech shells will arrive in Ukraine by the end of the year. At the same time, the Czech Republic announced a new initiative "Initiative-2025" for further supplies of ammunition to Ukraine. According to Defense Minister Yana Chernokhova, five defense companies will join this project, which will allow continued support of the Ukrainian army.
