Almost 20 countries will buy 500,000 shells for Ukraine together - Czech PM Fiala.

As part of the Czech initiative, about 20 countries have allocated funds to purchase 500,000 artillery shells for the Ukrainian army.

According to Censor.NET, citing Ukrinform, this was stated by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala during a speech at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, DC.

"I am glad that about twenty countries have already joined our initiative - from Canada, Germany and the Netherlands to Poland. Thanks to them, we can now purchase 500,000 pieces of artillery ammunition. We believe there will be more deliveries in the future. There is no reason why we cannot deliver another million over the next 12 months," he said.

According to Fiala, the Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine is not a one-off project.

"Our goal is to create a long-term supply system for ammunition for heavy weapons. This will directly help change the situation on the frontline. Western countries must once again have sufficient defence industry capacity. We must accept the fact that a more responsible security policy also involves a significant increase in the number of weapons," he added.

Read more: NATO countries should increase production of ammunition to deter Russian Federation - Duda

As reported, the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition from countries outside the EU was presented in early February by Prime Minister Petr Fiala at the EU summit, and later Czech President Petr Pavel said at the Munich Security Conference that 800,000 pieces of ammunition could be purchased for Ukrainians from third countries.

According to the Czech government, about twenty countries have joined the procurement so far.

Czech National Security Advisor Tomáš Poyar said earlier that Ukraine should receive the first deliveries of ammunition purchased under the Czech initiative no later than June.

The Czech Republic has signed a contract for the first 180,000 pieces of artillery ammunition for Ukraine and is working on obtaining another 300,000 pieces.