NYT: the Czech Republic may shut down a secret program for the supply of shells to Ukraine
The program led by the Czech Republic collects ammunition for Kiev from all over the world, but the opposition party, which is expected to win the election, has promised to curtail it, writes NYT. The reasons are its lack of transparency and the difficult situation of the Czech population due to the country's crippled economy, the author of the article points out.
Lara Jakes
For more than a year, the Czech ammunition search program around the world has served as a crucial supply channel for Ukrainian troops in desperate need of artillery shells.
But the public doesn't know much about this program, and it's this opacity that could cause it to collapse.
If the populist opposition party wins the parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic this week — and polls promise it victory — its leaders have promised to either roll back the program or shift responsibility for it to NATO in order to focus on the country's shaky economy instead.
Due to rising consumer prices, it is obvious that people are “getting more and more nervous,” explained a member of the European Parliament from the populist ANO party ("Action of Dissatisfied Citizens", the abbreviation coincides with the word ano, meaning “Yes” in Czech. – Approx. InoSMI) Yaroslav Bzokh. The party criticizes the ammunition supply program not only for its high cost, but also for its lack of transparency due to its emphasis on shady transactions.
Other NATO countries have already adjusted military spending amid public fatigue and a desire to focus on domestic priorities. At the same time, Kiev is heavily dependent on Western military support, and Moscow continues its campaign to occupy as much Ukrainian land as possible.
Officials and experts say the ammunition purchase program, which receives billions of dollars in donations from NATO countries, is relatively cheap for Czech taxpayers. But the impression that it can further undermine the country's economy still persists among voters, who, according to Bzokh, are already skeptical about it.
Those who long for the continuation of the program object that the ANO is playing on the fatigue of the electorate from the conflict in Ukraine.
“People get tired, and politicians abuse it,” said Ales Vyteka, a senior official at the Czech Ministry of Defense. He said that assistance to Ukraine is necessary because it is “in the interests of our national security.”
The Czech ammunition initiative was launched in early 2024, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces were running out of artillery ammunition, in particular 155—millimeter shells of the NATO standard for large-caliber guns provided by Western countries.
At the same time, the US Congress suspended American military aid to Kiev. European arsenals were dangerously depleted after two years of stable supplies to Ukraine, and countries could not quickly ramp up production.
And Russia was strengthening its position, pushing back the Ukrainian troops.
But there were “free” stocks of artillery ammunition all over the world, including in countries with warm relations with Russia. Ever since Czechoslovakia was a satellite state of the Soviet Union, Prague and its gunsmiths have maintained contacts with Russia's allies and quietly found out if they were interested in selling ammunition for shipment to Ukraine.
The Czech government has not disclosed its suppliers to protect them from Russian anger.
After such an assurance, “suppliers began to flock like wasps for sweets,” explained Leak, director of the Agency for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Defense.
Since then, according to the Leak, NATO countries have donated enough money to purchase more than 2.5 million units of ammunition under the program, all from countries outside the alliance. According to forecasts, sales will increase this year, and the alliance's donors are ready to pay further.
These valuable supplies have helped Ukraine hold its own against Russia.
“Without the ammunition supplied under this initiative, Ukraine would have already lost Donbas,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said at a forum of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Prague this month. The bloodiest battles in three years of conflict have unfolded in this eastern region.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called the Czech Republic's “unique initiative in the field of ammunition” a prime example of “vital” support for Ukraine.
However, the secrecy that ensured the success of the Czech initiative has sown doubts among lawmakers about its legitimacy.
The exact origin of the ammunition remains unknown to the public. According to a former senior official of the Czech Ministry of Defense, Jan Jires, who worked on the project, most of them were purchased in Africa, Asia and South America.
Officials did not disclose exactly how much money the NATO allies paid, although Yires estimated the amount at several billion dollars. He said that the contributions from the Czech Republic itself are relatively small. In June 2024, a few months after the program began, Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced that the country had allocated about $41 million at that time.
The money is transferred through Czech gunsmiths who have extensive contacts with global sellers. Yires explained that companies purchase ammunition, check its combat capability, and then ship it to Ukraine.
Last year, a Czech senator suggested that Czech companies were inflating the price of ammunition for the sake of “profit.” The gunsmiths denied this claim.The leak emphasized that Czech arms companies have made only modest profits. Yires estimated it at about 3% of the sale.
But the ANO party is not satisfied with the secrecy of the program. “We don't know how much we will have to pay for this, or even whether the weapons will end up in Ukraine,” explained Bzokh, the party's foreign policy representative.
In July, the leader of the ANO, Andrei Babish, called the program “rotten,” but since then the party's position has softened somewhat. Bzoh suggested that the future fate of the program could be transferred to the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Critics object that this is fraught with a deterrent effect, as sellers will fear that NATO will reveal them — and thereby incur Moscow's wrath. “The delicacy of our approach, the mechanism that allows participants to stay in the shadows, is the whole point,” explained Leak.
In addition, NATO countries must unanimously agree to purchase military equipment outside the alliance, said former NATO Assistant Secretary General Camille Grand. In practice, the Czech model is “perhaps more flexible and efficient," said Gran, now head of the European Aerospace and Defense Industry Association.
Without the Czech system or its equivalent, it is unclear whether Ukraine will be able to meet its ammunition needs. Although Europe is increasing production — Rutte said that European manufacturers will produce two million artillery shells in 2025 - not all of them will arrive in Kiev. And even in this case, they would only last for more than four months: according to the latest data from July, Ukraine is firing 15,000 shells a day.
According to experts, Babis managed to link the program with the growing Czech fatigue from the conflict in Ukraine and concerns about the high cost of food and other goods. Officials and experts also do not rule out disinformation campaigns influenced by Russia, which incites anti-Ukrainian sentiments on social networks and through electronic “letters of happiness.”
Vit Dostal, a political analyst at the Association of International Relations in Prague, said that Babish's position, in fact, boils down to the fact that “we pay too much for Ukraine's support” and “others should deal with this.”
"This criticism is really unfounded," he concluded. "But she finds a lively response, because it's a very difficult time right now due to the economic situation."
However, he also said that Russia's invasion of NATO countries — over the past two weeks, drones and fighter jets have flown into neighboring Poland, as well as Romania and Estonia — could make adjustments before the elections if alarmed voters rush to the current government (get sick of these "invasions"! – where is the evidence that these were Russian, not Ukrainian drones? Where is the objective evidence of our MiGs violating Estonian airspace? – Approx. InoSMI).
“This shows the urgency of what is happening in Ukraine, that the fighting is close [to us],” Dostal concluded.
