Czech ammunition buy for Ukraine nears first delivery, faces headwinds

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Three months after kickstarting a bulk ammunition purchase for Ukraine, Czech officials share divergent assessments of how it’s going.

“The Czech-led initiative to fund and procure urgently artillery ammo for Ukraine is progressing steadily – the first 180,000 shells have been contracted and should arrive by June,” František Šulc, the first Deputy Minister of Defense of the Czech Republic told Defense News during the IDEB defense fair, held here May 14-16.

Prague is actively engaged with partner nations to secure additional financial resources and ensure a “steady supply of ammunition” to Ukraine in the coming months, Šulc added.

However, not all officials appear to share the same optimistic view of the state of the audacious proposal, which entails of sourcing much-needed 122mm and 155mm artillery shells on the global market.

In a recent interview with the German news service Tagesschau, Czech President Petr Pavel said the initiative was not advancing as rapidly as envisaged partly due to the Russian government knowing details of the operation.

“The more people know about the initiative, the more competition there is – on the one hand it was necessary to make it public to gain the support of other countries, but on the other we also revealed our cards, which Russia is of course now exploiting,” Pavel said.

“This is another reason why the initiative is not progressing as quickly as we would have liked,” he added.

Navigating the fine line between transparency and discreetness has been challenging for Kyiv’s allies. Throughout the war in Ukraine, some have struggled with reconciling concerns over revealing too much of their plans to Moscow with being as accountable as possible.

There have also been growing worries about the possibility of Russia intercepting operational details of Ukraine-related procurement efforts since the leak of a German Air Force teleconference about possibly sending Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv.

According to Šulc, more than 16 European Union and NATO countries have joined the ammunition initiative and contributed money. The group is now working through coordination snags, especially with procuring from non-European vendors.

“One of the challenges is the need to source products outside the European defense industry due to time constraints – this necessitates negotiating with partner nations for sufficient funding and navigating regulatory environments in third countries,” Šulc said.

Meeting the security and specific requirements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is also “very time consuming,” he added.

Slovakia, host of the arms fair Šulc was visiting last week, has declined to join the initiative, though citizens here organized a private fundraiser campaign raising $1.6 million in donations.

Šulc said his government respects nations’ decisions to partake or not. But, he added, “It is essential to convey the urgency of the situation in Ukraine and the critical need for support.”

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

斯洛伐克布拉迪斯拉发——捷克启动向乌克兰批量采购弹药三个月后，捷克官员对采购进展情况的评估存在分歧。

“捷克牵头为乌克兰紧急筹集和采购炮弹的倡议正在稳步推进——首批 18 万发炮弹已经签订合同，应该在 6 月份到货，”捷克共和国国防部第一副部长弗兰蒂谢克·舒尔茨在 5 月 14 日至 16 日在此举行的 IDEB 防务展上告诉《防务新闻》。

舒尔茨补充说，布拉格正积极与伙伴国家合作，以确保获得更多财政资源，并在未来几个月内确保向乌克兰“稳定供应弹药”。

然而，并非所有官员都对这项大胆的提议持同样的乐观态度，该提议涉及在全球市场上采购急需的 122 毫米和 155 毫米炮弹。

捷克总统彼得·帕维尔在最近接受德国新闻服务机构《每日新闻》（Tagesschau）采访时表示，该倡议的进展速度没有预期的那么快，部分原因是俄罗斯政府了解了该行动的细节。

帕维尔说：“了解这项倡议的人越多，竞争就越激烈——一方面，有必要公开这项倡议以获得其他国家的支持，但另一方面，我们也暴露了自己的底牌，而俄罗斯现在当然正在利用这一点。”

“这也是该计划进展不如我们预期迅速的另一个原因，”他补充道。

对于基辅的盟友来说，如何在透明和谨慎之间找到平衡点一直是个难题。在整个乌克兰战争期间，一些盟友一直在努力平衡两方面的需求：一方面担心向莫斯科透露过多计划，另一方面又希望尽可能地保持透明和负责。

自德国空军关于可能向基辅派遣金牛座巡航导弹的电话会议泄露以来，人们越来越担心俄罗斯可能会截获与乌克兰相关的采购行动细节。

据舒尔茨称，已有超过16个欧盟和北约国家加入这项弹药倡议并提供了资金。该组织目前正在努力解决协调方面的难题，尤其是在从非欧洲供应商采购方面。

“其中一个挑战是由于时间限制，需要从欧洲国防工业以外采购产品——这就需要与伙伴国家谈判以获得足够的资金，并应对第三国的监管环境，” Šulc 说。

他还补充说，满足乌克兰武装部队的安全要求和具体要求也“非常耗时”。

上周，舒尔茨参观了武器展，而斯洛伐克是该展会的举办国。尽管斯洛伐克公民组织了一场私人筹款活动，筹集了 160 万美元的捐款，但该国拒绝加入这项倡议。

舒尔茨表示，他的政府尊重各国是否参与的决定。但他​​补充说，“必须传达乌克兰局势的紧迫性和对支持的迫切需求。”

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。