By Sabine Siebold
WIESBADEN, Germany, Dec 19 (Reuters) – A senior NATO military official voiced cautious optimism that the Czech Republic may continue an initiative to source large-calibre ammunition for Kyiv from global suppliers despite a recent change of government in Prague.
Before taking office, new Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis pledged to cut military aid to Ukraine from the national budget and suggested his government might end the Czech-led ammunition scheme.
He has said the scheme is not transparent and overpriced but has not taken a clear stance on the future of the project, which has strong backing from the president.
“I have no final confirmation (of whether) the initiative continues, but there are some positive signals coming from Prague,” Major General Maik Keller, deputy commander of NATO’s Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), told Reuters at the mission’s headquarters in Wiesbaden.
“There might be no more Czech funding for the initiative, which there was to a limited extent in the past. But the vast majority of the funding is coming from other partners.”
NSATU has been coordinating international military aid for Kyiv for about a year.
Keller praised the Czech initiative for its impact, saying it was delivering 1.8 million rounds of artillery ammunition this year – 43% of the total ammunition supplied to Kyiv, and roughly 70% of the legacy Soviet calibre ammunition.
“So that’s quite a significant and important initiative. And that’s why we are so keen on continuing it,” he said.
(Reporting by Sabine SieboldEditing by Ros Russell)
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