France to join Czech plan to buy 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron has backed a Czech plan to send 800,000 artillery shells to Ukraine from countries outside the European Union to help it resist Russia’s full-scale invasion. 

Source: Macron after his meeting with Czech President Petr Pavel in Prague on 5 March, writes Bloomberg, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The French President stated that the Czechia’s initiative “is extremely useful, we support it, we’ll participate in it.” 

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“It consists of looking for ammunition everywhere it is available and is compatible with the equipment we’ve delivered [to Ukraine – ed.],” he added.

Speaking about ways to find the funds to finance the Czech plan, Macron suggested that it could be “bilateral mobilisation, it can be cooperations with third parties, bilateral financing.”

“It can be European financing, that of the European Peace Facility, which can be mobilised in part for this initiative,” the French president suggested.

Background:

• At the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel stated that the country has found a way to acquire 800,000 shells, which it could send to Ukraine in a matter of weeks if delivery funding was provided.
• The Czech Defence Ministry previously stated that it was coordinating the effort and had received prior commitments from Canada, Denmark, and other countries that did not wish to be identified.
• The Netherlands, which has already contributed €250 million to the purchase of ammunition, and Belgium, which will contribute €200 million, have publicly announced their involvement.

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