Part of the earnings from the Russian assets frozen in the European Union will be used to purchase ammunition for Ukraine within the Czech-led ammunition initiative.

“We can purchase hundreds of thousands of pieces of the much needed large-calibre ammunition for Ukraine [using the funds],” Czech Minister of Defence Jana Cernochova wrote on her X account.”

Czech Radio reported that the interest on some €300bn of frozen Russian assets in the EU is about €1.4bn.

In June, the EU state agreed to use these earnings to purchase military and other forms of aid for Ukraine but avoided using the assets directly to avoid international arbitrations.   

Cernochova added that “it is a unique opportunity to support Ukraine” and “use resources originally belonging to Russia and save public finances of European countries”.  

Cernochova also described the move as “another proof of the trust of allies in the Czech Republic and in our ammunition initiative”.

Last week, anti-corruption Senator Lukas Wagenknecht (Pirate Party) published an analysis that claims that the ammunition already bought through the initiative is overpriced and Ukraine is receiving less ammunition than it should.

The Czech-led ammunition initiative collects funds to purchase ammunition for Ukraine from third parties in and outside the EU. Last month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavsky said that the initiative, which buys ammunition from the EU as well as worldwide, will supply Ukraine with altogether 100,000 pieces of ammunition over the summer.

Lipavsky, who is also a Pirate Party member, and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala of the neoliberal ODS, claimed last month that up to 800,000 pieces could be supplied in total this year if more money were provided for the initiative.

The cabinet’s envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Tomas Kopecny, said that 18 countries worldwide backed the initiative and 15 of these contributed financially. Kopecny refrained from giving more details, citing the need to protect the initiative against Russian subversion activities.

According to Czech officials, 500,000 pieces of ammunition are financially covered, amounting to about CZK50.5bn (€2bn).