Prague has received preliminary approval to purchase an additional 200,000 shells in addition to the mandatory purchase of 300,000 artillery rounds for Ukraine, Czech News reports, citing Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
“…Petr Fiala said that in addition to the mandatory confirmed purchase of 300,000 units of artillery ammunition for Ukraine from third countries, the Czech initiative to search for ammunition has a promise of another 200,000 pieces,” the Czech News website said on Tuesday.
According to Fiala, 18 countries, including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland, have joined the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition from third countries. “I consider this a great success. This is yet another proof that the Czech Republic is a full-fledged active player in European security policy,” the Czech Prime Minister said.
Fiala also announced that over the past two years, the Czech Republic has delivered more than a million pieces of large-caliber ammunition to Ukraine.
As reported, at the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel said that the Czech Republic had found up to 800,000 NATO standard-caliber shells that could be sent to Ukraine in a few weeks if funding is found.
Last week, the Czech prime minister said that enough money had been raised to purchase the first batch of 300,000 artillery shells.
NATO is putting its armed forces on alert and sending additional ships and fighter jets to Eastern Europe in connection with the build-up of Russian military forces near Ukraine. “NATO Allies are putting forces on standby and sending additional ships and fighter jets to NATO deployments in eastern Europe, reinforcing Allied deterrence and defence as Russia continues its military build-up in and around Ukraine,” a statement published on the NATO website reads.The communiqué says that in the past days, a number of Allies have made announcements regarding current or upcoming deployments. Thus, according to the statement, Denmark is sending a frigate to the Baltic Sea and is set to deploy four F-16 fighter jets to Lithuania in support of NATO’s long-standing air-policing mission in the region. Spain is sending ships to join NATO naval forces and is considering sending fighter jets to Bulgaria.In addition, France has expressed its readiness to send troops to Romania under NATO command.The United States has also made clear that it is considering increasing its military presence in the eastern part of the Alliance.NATO is also expecting that the Netherlands will send two F-35 fighter aircraft to Bulgaria from April to support NATO’s air-policing activities in the region, and will put a ship and land-based units on standby for NATO’s Response Force.”There were no NATO forces in the eastern part of the Alliance before 2014,” NATO says.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill to increase the number of servicemen in the Armed Forces by 11,000, and the relevant bill has been published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada.
“The bill proposes increasing at the legislative level the number of servicemen in the Ukrainian Armed Forces by 11,000 to ensure the functioning of a separate branch of the army, that is, the territorial defense forces, as well as the further development of the resistance system,” the explanatory note to the bill reads.
Thus, the president suggested approving the number of Armed Forces personnel in an amount not exceeding 261,000, including 215,000 military personnel.
According to the bill, during any special period, the size of the Ukrainian army is increased by the number of personnel called up for military service in pursuance of presidential orders on mobilization approved by the law.
Currently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces should not exceed 250,000 people, including 204,000 servicemen.
