Slovenia to join Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told journalists that Slovenia will join Czechia's initiative to supply artillery shells for Ukraine, Radio Prague International reported on March 26.

The initiative was founded in February, when Czech President Petr Pavel said that Prague had identified 500,000 155 mm shells and 300,000 122 mm shells outside of Europe that could be bought and sent to Ukraine if provided with the necessary funding.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on March 12 that the initiative has already secured the purchase of 300,000 shells and received nonbinding commitments for 200,000 more.

Slovenia plans to allocate one million euros ($1.08 million) to the initiative, Radio Prague International reported, citing Slovenian news agency Sta.

Slovenia joins over a dozen other countries that have committed to the initiative, including the Netherlands, Iceland, France, and Lithuania.

The initiative may deliver as many as 1.5 million rounds, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in an interview with Bloomberg published on March 26.

While the Czech foreign minister declined to give a timeline for the delivery of the shells, Tomas Pojar, a Czech national security adviser, said earlier that the first batches could be sent to Ukraine as early as June.

Ukraine has been facing increasingly severe ammunition shortages in recent months, contributing to the loss of a key front-line city of Avdiivka in February. The EU has delivered 500,000 shells by March, half of the original pledged number, promising to supply the rest by the end of 2024.

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