Polish foreign minister admits delays in funding shell initiative for Ukraine

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has acknowledged delays in Polish funding for a Czech initiative to supply Ukraine with artillery shells.

Source: Sikorski at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha during a visit to Kyiv on Friday, 13 September, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Sikorski confirmed that Poland highly appreciates the Czech shell initiative and is still willing to invest the previously pledged funding of €50 million in 2024 and 2025.

He acknowledged that "payments are a little late", explaining that this was due to a criminal case against the former head of the Government Strategic Reserves Agency, Michał Kuczmierowski.

Kuczmierowski is accused of being a member of an organised crime group, and according to media reports, he also facilitated a dubious tender for power generators for Ukraine that never reached the Ukrainians.

The Polish prosecutor's office put the former official on the wanted list in August, and he is currently in hiding in London, avoiding extradition, Sikorski said.

"But I think we will finish this case, and the payments will be made," he concluded.

Earlier, Polish media reported that of all the countries that pledged to support Czechia's initiative to purchase artillery shells for Ukraine around the world, Poland is apparently the only one that has not yet provided any funds for this purpose.

Barring any unforeseen developments, Czechia is set to deliver around 100,000 shells to Ukraine in September under the initiative, bringing it closer to the goal of securing half a million shells of various calibres – primarily 155-mm – by the end of the year.

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