The Czech Republic has signed contracts for the purchase of 180,000 shells for further transfer to Ukraine. Another 300,000 rounds of ammunition are planned to be contracted. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala wrote about this in a column for the Financial Times.

According to him, the situation in Ukraine is critical. One of the reasons is that the Ukrainian military is running out of ammunition and is "forced to make difficult decisions every day."

"This makes it extremely difficult for them to hold the front line - the very line on which the security and future of the whole of Europe depends," the Czech Prime Minister added.

He also noted that the Czech initiative on shells for Ukraine succeeds due to its "deceptive simplicity".

"We are working to get another 300,000 shells and have already signed contracts for the first 180,000. They will be delivered to the Ukrainian front in the coming months," Fiala clarified.

As the Prime Minister said, about 20 countries have joined the initiative.

It is worth noting that earlier the media reported much higher numbers of shells. It was stated that the Czech Republic had already agreed to purchase 800,000 shells, of which 300,000 have already been purchased. But the Czech Prime Minister gives different statistics.