Estonia may join the Czech initiative to purchase artillery shells for Ukraine. The head of the Estonian Foreign Ministry, Margus Tsahkna, announced this at a press conference on April 2, as quoted by the news agency ČTK.
According to him, Tallinn supports the initiative and is working on specific proposals.
“Two weeks ago, the government decided to prepare a new package of military support for Ukraine worth €20 million. Most of it will be ammunition,” said the head of the Estonian Foreign Ministry.
His Czech colleague Jan Lipavsky thanked Estonia for its interest in Prague's projectile initiative, adding that “an adequate defense of Ukraine is the defense of all of us.” In addition, the ministers supported anti-Russian sanctions, where, according to Tsakhkna, it is important to focus on combating hybrid threats.
On March 27, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that the country’s contribution to the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine will be doubled. However, he did not specify what specific amount he was talking about. Earlier, on March 21, he announced that Poland would take on logistical tasks for the delivery of ammunition purchased outside the European Union (EU) to Ukraine.
Also on March 21, it became known that Finland will allocate €30 million to participate in the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition, and Lithuania has already allocated more than €30 million on March 20.
Advisor to the Czech Prime Minister Tomas Pojar said on March 13 that shells under the Czech program could arrive in Ukraine in June. He noted that the goal of this initiative is to bring ammunition “from all over the world, wherever it is available, at a reasonable price and of acceptable quality.”
Czech President Petr Pavel announced on March 7 that the country had raised funds to purchase 800 thousand shells for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in third countries. The Czech government has entered into a memorandum approving the procurement. In mid-February, Pavel said that his country had found states where shells could be purchased, but did not list them.
Western countries have increased military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of the Russian special operation to protect Donbass, which began on February 24, 2022 due to the aggravation of the situation in the region as a result of Ukrainian shelling.
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