Slovenia has joined the Czech initiative to purchase artillery ammunition for Ukraine outside the European Union.
This was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavský, during a visit to Ljubljana.
The Minister did not specify the exact amount, but Slovenian media write that the government may allocate one million euros.
At the same time, Austria refused to join the Czech initiative due to its military neutrality. This was stated by the head of diplomacy, Alexander Schallenberg.
In the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, there was a meeting of the foreign ministers of the informal group Central 5. It was attended by Austrian, Czech, Hungarian, Slovenian, and Slovak sides. They discussed, among other things, Ukraine. Slovenia plans to continue assisting Kyiv in reconstruction, demining, rehabilitation, and psychosocial support for children and families.
It is known that the Czech Republic, together with partners, managed to raise part of the funds to purchase the first batch of ammunition. This concerns 300 thousand units of ammunition. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský recently stated that Ukraine, within the Czech initiative, can receive 1.5 million units of ammunition, not 800 thousand as originally planned.
It is worth noting that Lithuania will join the Czech initiative to purchase 800 thousand units of ammunition for Ukraine outside the European Union countries. The leaders of the Lithuanian and Czech governments also discussed the security situation in the region, the importance of increasing investments in European defense, and strengthening bilateral relations.
Recall that on January 31, representatives of the European Union announced that they would not be able to provide the promised one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine by March 1, 2024. By that time, EU countries will only have 600 thousand units of ammunition.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has already informed allies that it faces a “critical” shortage of artillery shells, as Russia uses three times more ammunition on the front line every day.
Then in the Czech Republic, they proposed to look for suppliers outside the European Union.
And on February 16, at a meeting of the Committee on Policy and Security, most countries in the European Union expressed support for allowing EU funds to be used to purchase ammunition produced outside the bloc as an extraordinary measure to assist Ukraine. However, France, Greece, and Cyprus opposed this initiative.
However, on February 17, Czech President Petr Pavel announced that he had found 800 thousand artillery shells for Ukraine of caliber 155 and 122 millimeters. But in order to purchase ammunition, financing was needed.
Meanwhile, Canada has announced its readiness to support the Czech initiative for the urgent transfer of tens of thousands of artillery shells to Ukraine.
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