The Czech Republic has sourced 1.5 million shells worth €3.3B for Ukraine through Cold War contacts.

The Czech Republic received about 800,000 artillery shells from various suppliers worldwide and found another 700,000 shells that could be bought with additional funds. The cost for all 1.5 million projectiles is €3.3B.

Prague began looking for ammunition for Ukraine shortly before the beginning of the full-scale invasion two years ago, said Czech officials who secretly procured projectiles in order to bypass EU and NATO bureaucratic apparatuses.

They said that the Czech Republic has maintained contacts in the military industry with customers around the world and good relations with many countries of the Global South. Among the suppliers of ammunition, several countries are actually allies of Russia.

According to the WSJ, the purchased package includes 300,000 rounds of Soviet-style ammunition and about 500,000 Western-made ammunition. They will be delivered to Ukraine in several batches by the end of this year.