Ukraine to Get 155mm Artillery Shells Found in Czech-Led Effort

(Bloomberg) — Ukraine’s military is set to receive the first of what may be hundreds of thousands of 155mm artillery shells as part of an international effort to forage foreign stockpiles as US efforts to send more aid remain hung up in Congress.

Ukraine could see the first shells arrive within weeks under the initiative, which has the Czech Republic serving as the middleman to link governments willing to finance the purchase of excess 155mm shells in third countries, Jan Jires, the country’s director general for defense policy and strategy, said in an interview in Washington.

Jires said a number of European countries are part of the initiative. He didn’t identify what nations are funding the purchases or whose stockpiles are being tapped but said deliveries are likely to be disclosed after their arrival.

Czech President Petr Pavel said at the Munich Security Conference last month that his country had identified 500,000 rounds of 155mm shells and 300,000 rounds of 122mm ones that could be delivered within weeks if the money was made available.

European leaders discussed the Czech proposal, which foresees buying ammunition from countries outside the the region, at a meeting in Paris on Monday. The Netherlands agreed to contribute €100 million ($109 million) to the plan. The government in Prague said it also secured preliminary commitments from Canada and Denmark, as well as other countries that didn’t wish to be identified.

In Washington, House Republican lawmakers have stymied the Biden administration’s $60 billion request for Ukraine military assistance, which includes more than $3 billion for munitions that would be drawn down from Pentagon stockpiles. The US has provided Ukraine more than 2 million rounds of 155mm caliber munitions since Russia’s invasion two years ago.

The Czech Republic initiative is one way “of us demonstrating we are actually doing something, not waiting what is going to happen on the Hill,” Jires said.

US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters Tuesday that government-owned, contractor-operated facilities are on track to ramp production of 155mm shells to about 36,000 a month starting about April from 28,000 a month as of October. The funds requested in the stalled legislation are needed to achieve the Army’s goal of producing 100,000 155mm shells a month by late 2025, she said.

–With assistance from Piotr Skolimowski.

(Updates with details of the proposal in fifth paragraph)

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