Czech Republic to look for ways to increase ammunition supplies

The Czech Republic, in cooperation with other allies, will look for ways to increase the supply of ammunition to Ukraine.

This was stated by Czech President Petr Pavel upon his return from Ukraine, where he was on a working visit, Ceske Noviny reports.

Pavel said that Ukraine is experiencing a critical shortage of ammunition needed to launch a counteroffensive and regain control of its territory occupied by Russia.

"From the talks, I held in Ukraine - and there were a lot of them, both at the central level and at the level of one region - it became quite clear that what Ukraine needs most for the successful defense today is ammunition," Pavel said upon arrival in the Czech Republic.

"We will continue to look for ways to not only increase the supply of ammunition from our sources, but we will also creatively look for ways to cooperate with our allies, perhaps with other countries, to deliver to Ukraine what they need in a short time," the president said.

According to him, the Czech Republic has already gone down some of these paths and knows where to go next. He added that the necessary ammunition is often no longer produced in the Czech Republic, but is available in some other countries. "Stocks are often in countries that traditionally bought Soviet equipment," he explained.

"Technology, of course, is also lacking, but the critical shortage of ammunition not only limits Ukraine's ability to defend itself effectively but also to some extent limits its ability to launch a successful counteroffensive. And if they want to regain control of the occupied territory that Russia has been aggressively holding for more than a year, there really is no other way but to launch a counteroffensive," added Pavel, who is a retired army general.

According to him, the Russians have an advantage in artillery main guns and rocket launchers, but above all in the amount of ammunition - they fire four to five times more than the Ukrainians every day.

Pavel recalled that he visited one of the training grounds in Ukraine, where there is a Czech howitzer and an RM-70 multiple-launch rocket system. According to him, even after a year, they work reliably and Ukrainians praise them. "What prevents their even greater and more effective use for the defense of Ukrainian territory is ammunition," he said.

Author - Olena Madiak, 01/05/2023