Czech Republic and allies will look for ways to increase supply of ammunition to Ukraine

The Czech Republic will look for ways to increase the supply of ammunition to Ukraine in cooperation with other allies.

Source: Czech President Petr Pavel after his visit to Ukraine, reported by European Pravda with a reference to Ceske Noviny

Details: Pavel has said that Ukraine is experiencing a critical shortage of ammunition needed to launch a counter-offensive and regain control of its territory occupied by Russia.

Quote: "From the talks I held in Ukraine – and there were many of them, both at the central level and at the level of one region – it became quite clear that what Ukraine needs most for the successful defence today is ammunition."

"We will continue to look for ways to not only increase the supply of munitions from our sources, but we will also creatively look for ways to work with our allies, perhaps other countries, to get what they need to Ukraine on short notice."

Details: According to Pavel, the Czech Republic has already followed some of these paths and knows where to go next. He has added that the ammunition needed is often no longer produced in the Czech Republic, but is available in some other countries. "The stocks are often in countries that traditionally bought Soviet-made equipment," he explained.

Quote: "Technology, of course, is also lacking, but the critical shortage of ammunition not only limits Ukraine's ability to defend itself efficiently, but also to some extent limits its ability to launch a successful counter-offensive. And if they want to regain control of the occupied territory that Russia has been aggressively holding for more than a year, there really is no other way but to launch a counter-offensive."

More details: According to him, the Russians have an advantage in artillery main guns and rocket launchers, but above all in the amount of ammunition – they fire four to five times more than the Ukrainians every day.

Pavel has recalled that he visited a training ground in Ukraine, where there was a Czech-made howitzer and an RM-70 multiple-launch rocket system. According to him, even after a year, they are working reliably and Ukrainians have good reviews about them. "What prevents them from being used even more effectively to protect Ukrainian territory is ammunition," he said.

Pavel has said that the allies supply Ukraine with very effective equipment, such as modern tanks, but with an absolutely minimal amount of ammunition. Ukrainians can only deploy this equipment for a few days and then have to take it back. "It practically goes into storage. And it doesn't make much sense," said Pavel.

Background:

• Pavel arrived in Ukraine on Friday together with Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová. They held talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other government officials and discussed military support. The delegation was forced to go to a shelter in a hotel for an hour because of an air-raid warning, as Russia launched a new wave of air strikes.
• The Czech president also visited the town of Bucha, which has become one of the symbols of war crimes. On Saturday, he visited the city of Dnipro. Among other things, he visited facilities for refugees from other regions of Ukraine.
• He also inspected a residential building that was destroyed by a Russian missile in January, where 49 civilians, including children, were killed.

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