By Ebad Ahmed
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AA) – The Czech Republic has warned that a plan to provide Ukraine with 800,000 shells by the end of the year will fall short by more than a third unless donor nations provide more funding, a UK-based publication reported Tuesday.
“We have secured funding for half a million pieces of large-caliber ammunition, which we will deliver by the end of this year,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told reporters in Brussels, according to The Guardian.
But of the 18 countries that signed up to the plan, three were yet to contribute, it said.
“We can deliver up to 800,000 (shells) by the end of this year, if we can find the money – so we need money,” Lipavsky added.
According to media reports, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Canada, Norway and Sweden are among the countries that have confirmed their involvement, but the Czech government has not yet named the three countries that have failed to deliver on their pledges.
Lipavsky said the first 45,000 shells arrived in Ukraine in June and a further 100,000 are due in July and August, and “from September, these deliveries will accelerate.”
“Those unnamed three countries, however, were not responsible for the entire 300,000 gap, Lipavsky indicated, describing the 800,000 goal as “the possibility which we see in the world market” to supply Ukraine with shells this year,” the report said.
The Czech Republic is leading the initiative of providing support to Ukraine by securing shells from global partners.
The initiative was launched by Czech President Petr Pavel at the Munich Security Conference in February in response to an acute shell shortage on the Ukrainian battlefield.