Portugal to allocate €100 million for shells for Ukraine

The Portuguese government will allocate €100 million to the Czech initiative to purchase artillery shells for Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Militarnyi reported on this with reference to the official website of the Portuguese government.

Thus, Portugal will join other countries that have already supported the Czech Republic’s initiative to jointly purchase and quickly deliver large-caliber ammunition to Ukraine.

President Pavel announced the possibility of purchasing artillery shells for Ukraine from third countries at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February.

According to the Czech President, the country’s representatives managed to find about 500,000 155-mm artillery shells and 300,000 122mm shells abroad.

To date, more than 15 countries have committed to finance the purchase of artillery shells. Among them are Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, France, Norway, Canada, and Sweden.

The Financial Times reported that the total value of such contracts can reach $1.5 billion. Representatives of the Czech Republic made no comment concerning the cost of potential transactions.

According to Tomáš Kopečný, Government Commissioner for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the delivery of ammunition to Ukraine will take several months.

He emphasized that the money from the partners had been promised, but it was not yet on the accounts of the entities that would purchase the ammunition.

In addition, Kopečný also announced plans to expand the initiative, which will be announced after the first 800,000 artillery shells are financed.

Subsequently, the Czech Republic announced the possibility of purchasing another 200,000 artillery shells for Ukraine.

Militarnyi also recently reported that, in addition to the Czech ammunition procurement initiative, Ukraine wants to implement two more such campaigns by the end of the year and is already working with partners to finance them.