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https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/03/05/war-in-ukraine-czech-republic-identifies-800-000-shells-that-could-be-sent-to-ukraine_6587663_4.html

Firmly committed to Ukraine, the Czech Republic likes to present itself as a bastion of agility and pragmatism. At a time when the European Union is struggling to supply the million rounds of large-caliber ammunition it had promised Kyiv, Petr Pavel, the country’s president surprised everyone by announcing at the Munich Security Conference on February 17 that the country had “identified at this point 500,000 rounds of [NATO-standard] 155 mm caliber [shells] and another 300,000 rounds of [Soviet-standard] 122 mm caliber” shells around the world, all ready for purchase and immediate shipment to Ukraine.

Following this announcement, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on February 26 that he had convinced around 15 European countries to follow suit. Even France, which had long been reluctant to buy weapons outside the European Union (EU), has ended up expressing an interest.

During a visit to Prague on Tuesday, March 5, the French president could be the next to make a financial commitment in addition to those made by the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada and Belgium. These countries have already announced that they are ready to donate several hundred million euros to this purchasing plan, which aims to obtain these supplies from countries that have often refused to commit themselves politically to the war in Ukraine, but which have remained interested in current economic opportunities.

“Our plan had been on the table for months, but France had stalled for a long time in the name of ‘Buy European,’ even though we don’t have the necessary production capacity: Europe has promised a million rounds of ammunition, and we haven’t even been able to supply half of them,” explained Pavel Fischer, president of the Czech Senate’s foreign affairs, defense and security committee, welcoming the Elysée’s change of heart. “The French understand a lot more than they did three or six months ago,” agreed Tomas Kopecny, the Czech government’s special envoy for Ukraine, who attributed “this

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