Czech FM: First 300,000 shells for Ukraine will provide 'few months' breathing space' on frontline

The Czech Republic has so far secured 300,000 artillery shells for Ukraine that would provide a vital "few months' breathing space" on the front lines.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told this to The Guardian, Ukrinform reports.

Lipavsky said the Czech Republic hopes to deliver the shells "within months" to help "contain Russia's imperialistic ambitions," increasing speculation Ukraine could have boosted stocks from June.

"Ukraine has to be able to defend itself because it defends the whole of Europe. It is not [about] Ukraine losing; it is the whole Western civilization, the principles which are now at stake and which are being challenged by Russian imperialism," Lipavsky said.

Czech sources said that a consortium of Western countries had obtained serious pledges to supply 300,000 high-caliber artillery shells, with the first shipments being delivered no later than June. Nonbinding pledges for a further 200,000 had been made.

The foreign minister said that 18 countries had committed to the initiative to source the much-needed supplies from outside the EU and they were close to raising the required funding to buy all 800,000 shells in an initiative that was partly a response to the standoff in the U.S. Congress, which is preventing the approval of a new $60 billion military aid package.

Photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine