The Defense Forces of Ukraine will receive the first batch of 180,000 artillery shells as part of an ammunition initiative, organized by the Czech Republic, soon.
"The good thing about the Czech initiative is that it differs from the assistance we received before. They are looking for ammunition and promise to organize supplies from countries that do not directly support Ukraine, from depots and in a fairly short time. This is what we need at the frontline,", CEO of Ukrainian Armor LLC (that is part of NAUDI) Vladyslav Belbas told Defense Express.
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Commenting on the production and supply of ammunition, he notes that there is significant competition for the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine as well now. The expansion of production capacity is in progress. At the same time, many companies declare the possibility of supplying artillery shells, but this possibility is not always confirmed.
Belbas notes that the situation with the availability of ammunition and delivery times is not the best. "No matter how politically it is declared, it is not so easy to supply all this quickly, to organize such supplies, and it is even more difficult to find this ammunition in stock."
As an example, he mentions the EU's plan to supply Ukraine with one million rounds of ammunition announced in March 2023: "It has not been delivered in a year, so there is a problem not with money but with the industry's capacity to launch production. The Czech initiative is a very effective and short-term tool in this regard."
Belbas reminds that Ukrainian Armor supplies ammunition to the Defense Forces of Ukraine both by import and in production cooperation. "We are separating these chains, but we are trying to deepen the level of localization of production all the time. Indeed, the volumes we are issuing now are higher than we had at the beginning of 2024."
Earlier Defense Express reported that Ukraine would get advanced MkIIIC version of Swedish combat vehicle 90.
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