The Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine has gained additional financial resources from Canada, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, which will allow deliveries of artillery ammunition to continue until September, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said at the NATO headquarters in Brussels yesterday.
Lipavsky is attending a two-day meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers, which will continue today.
The Czech Republic is one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters. Last year, Czech officials brokered the supply of around 1.5 million rounds of artillery ammunition of various calibers to Ukraine, which is facing the fourth year of Russian military aggression. A number of allied countries have joined the Czech ammunition initiative.
Thanks to the initiative, the Czech Republic reduced Russia’s artillery superiority on the battlefield by 500%, according to Lipavsky. “It was 1-10 and today it is 1-2,” he told Czech journalists in Brussels.
The Czech Republic aims to supply 125,000 rounds of ammunition a month to Ukraine this year.
This is the first NATO meeting in Brussels attended by new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and recent verbal attacks by US officials on two NATO allies, Canada and Denmark, are therefore expected to be a topic of the debate.
“I am curious to see what the US delegation is coming up with,” Lipavsky said. “But so far, I have not heard the United States questioning the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as such, or the obligations that follow from it.”
Lipavsky said the debate was intended to bring the allies into alignment and sharpen their views. “I will talk about what the Czech Republic perceives as threats and risks,” he said.
He also wants to talk about what needs to be done to ensure that NATO remains the most successful military alliance in the world. “The Czech Republic certainly does not question the need to increase defence spending,” he added. “The government has decided that we will look for resources to be able to increase it by 0.2% (of GDP) continuously until 2030.”
The foreign ministers will also discuss the multiannual financial framework, which should place more emphasis on security, according to Lipavsky.
At the meeting, the Czech minister wants to inform the allies about the inclusion of two people on the national sanctions list.
On Wednesday, the Czech government added two persons on the list, Belarusian journalist Natallia Sudliankova and Russian military intelligence service GRU member Alexei Shavrov. Lipavsky said Sudliankova was a key collaborator of the GRU and had worked covertly and knowingly for several Russian organisations in the Czech Republic for many years.
