More than a third of the planned 500,000 artillery shells that, according to the Czech initiative, should be delivered by the end of the year, are already in Ukraine. This was stated by the new Ukrainian ambassador in Prague, Vasily Zvarych, reports the Czech news portal Irozhlas.
Zvarych has no information about the ammunition problems, which were recently reported by the German newspaper Handelsblatt, the portal notes. According to Handelsblatt, in a letter to the Czech Republic, Ukraine complained that some of the launched artillery shells were exploding prematurely, endangering Ukrainian soldiers and equipment.
“I have not seen any letters from Ukrainian officials.” – said the ambassador, pointing out that this is, supposedly, an attempt to discredit the initiative.
“This shouldn’t happen because she’s great. It is really effective and helps our soldiers on the battlefield. Germany is one of the main donors to the Czech initiative. Why is Germany doing this? Because this initiative is excellent, transparent and really effective,” added Zvarich.
He expressed hope that deliveries will continue next year.
According to the ambassador, Ukraine is negotiating with the Czech Ministry of Defense to expand the initiative. By the end of August, 15 countries had contributed to the Czech initiative and were also seeking artillery ammunition for Ukraine in non-EU countries. The Czech contribution amounted to almost 866 million crowns.
The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic proposed purchasing artillery ammunition for Ukraine from non-EU countries. Petr Fiala (ODS) at the EU summit in February, when kyiv faced a serious ammunition shortage, the portal recalls.
how it was transmitted EADailySome of the artillery shells delivered as part of the Czech initiative to Ukraine explode prematurely, damaging equipment and injuring soldiers. This was reported by Handelsblatt with reference to a report from the Ukrainian army command.
According to the publication, we are talking about ammunition received from the United States and the Czech Republic.
“During the combat use of artillery, numerous shell explosions occurred at a distance of 20 to 60 meters from the nozzle, as a result of which personnel were injured and artillery systems were damaged,” the publication notes.
