The first shipment of ammunition from the Czech-led supply initiative has arrived in Ukraine, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced. Czechia has spearheaded efforts to purchase ammunition from outside of the EU, relying on the global network of the country’s ammunition companies.

“The first shipment of ammunition from our initiative arrived in Ukraine some time ago. We are doing what it takes,” Fiala wrote on his X social media account.

The Czech initiative aims to make up for delays in ramping up European arms production by sourcing ammunition from stocks held outside the EU. Previously the Czech government said that the first 50,000 to 100,000 artillery shells would reach Ukraine in June.

According to the latest figures reported by Reuters, Czechia has said they so far had around 1.7 billion euros in payments or firm commitments from 15 donor countries, which was enough for half a million artillery rounds to be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year. Some 20 countries have said they will participate in the Czech initiative, but only five had delivered payments by the end of May: Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and Canada.

Fiala’s cabinet has faced criticism from the domestic opposition for the lack of transparency and the involvement of private companies in the initiative, but Fiala has declined to give more details, citing security concerns.

Czech cabinet’s envoy for Ukraine, Tomas Kopecny, told commercial radio Frekvence 1 that the Czech-led initiative had already begun at the end of 2022, when the Netherlands and Denmark joined in, and that more countries had joined only this year. He added that new EU-produced ammunition is also being bought.

“The production capacity is being bought for several months in advance,” Kopecny was quoted as saying, adding that he expects the government to comment on the amounts of ammunition arriving in Ukraine in the coming weeks.

Fiala also informed Czech President Petr Pavel of the developments, whom he met at Prague Castle together with the leaders of the main opposition party ANO party, populist billionaire and ex-PM Andrej Babis and Karel Havlicek. ANO has been dominating Czech national polls and will form the next cabinet in 2025 if the figures hold.

Pavel announced that government leaders and ANO leaders had agreed on the country’s Western orientation, including membership in the EU and Nato, and condemned Russian aggression in Ukraine.  

“I have stressed several times that it is not possible to move only in one direction in solving the war in Ukraine, such as only with military aid without political and diplomatic talks,” Pavel said at a press conference following the meeting, hinting at diplomatic talks to end the war which the Czech opposition has been calling for.

“The ANO movement is of the opinion that the peace effort is not progressing as quickly as they would envision,” Pavel also said, while Babis called on Nato states “to do maximum to end the war”.

Babis has also reiterated that the Czech-led ammunition initiative is not transparent and that it brings about “incredible profits” to the weaponry industry.