Norway joins Czech artillery ammunition initiative with contribution of more than $150 million
Oslo “have decided to contribute up to NOK 1.6 billion” (almost $153 million) to the Czech initiative to purchase “urgently needed artillery ammunition” for Ukraine, the Norwegian government announced on March 7.
“Norway supports Ukraine with artillery ammunition both from its own stocks and directly from the industry,” the country’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said.
On Feb. 17, Czech President Petr Pavel said that the country had found hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds abroad that it could transfer to Ukraine if it had the funding.
Germany, France, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Belgium have agreed to contribute funds to finance the purchase.
On March 1, Czechia’s director for Defense Policy and Strategy, Jan Jires, told Bloomberg that Ukraine was set to receive the first batch of ammunition under the Czech-led initiative to purchase artillery shells from outside EU in coming weeks.
The EU will only supply Ukraine with 52% of the 1 million artillery shells promised by March 2024, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Jan. 31, adding that they will only be able to fulfil the commitment by Winter 2024.
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