Czech Republic proposes that the European Union purchase ammunition for Ukraine outside Europe

3 February, 2024 Hulls of 155mm projectiles produced by Forges de Tarbes. Photo credits: Remi Benoit The Czech Republic offers the European Union to purchase ammunition for Ukraine outside its borders.

Politico reported on this. The Czech government is reportedly proposing to purchase about 450,000 rounds of ammunition outside the bloc. This statement was made against the backdrop of the failure of the plan to supply ammunition for the needs of Armed Forces of Ukraine.

One diplomat said the 450,000 figure was pitched during an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday. When the EU was calibrating its military aid commitments in early 2023, France -- the bloc's defense industry leader -- had been pushing to make sure that subsidies were focused only on local production, rather than being funneled abroad.

155mm shells manufactured by Forges de Tarbes, 2023. Photo credits: AFP/LIONEL BONAVENTURE

But the Czech Republic's call raises the prospect that Europe will instead turn to arms companies in South Korea, Turkey and South Africa.

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell specifically mentioned that Korea -- a major weapons producer -- could provide with extra shells. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala then told his counterparts during Thursday's EU leaders' summit that shells could be obtained from outside the EU to help the bloc meet its promise, according to another official briefed on the talks. Militarnyi reported on January 20 that by the end of 2024, the European Union will be able to produce more than 1.3 million artillery shells per year.

Production of DM121 high-explosive rounds.

Photo credits: Rheinmetall

In November 2023, Dmytro Kuleba, Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that the European Union will not be able to fulfill its plan to supply a million artillery shells to Ukraine until March 2024, emphasizing that the EU was working on problems' solving. Before that, Josep Borrell, Head of the EU Diplomatic Department, noted that the European Union hadn't abandoned the goal of supplying Ukraine with 1 million ammunition for artillery by March 2024. However, he mentioned that the promise might not be fulfilled in time.

Everything will depend on the speed of ammunition production at factories.

He also said that European defense companies still export 40 percent of their shells to other countries, not Ukraine.

As previously reported, the EU's defense industry denies any fault in the failure of the plan to supply Ukraine with shells.