Paris agrees to support Czech plan to boost ammunition for Ukraine

France has agreed to support the Czech initiative to procure about 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a meeting with his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel on Tuesday in Prague.
The project is very useful and France will take part in it, Macron said. Ministers from both countries are now called on to suggest ways to implement it.
The initiative involves looking for ammunition wherever it is available, Macron explained.
The project could be financed bilaterally or through the European Peace Facility - the latter of which France has previously rejected.
The European Peace Facility is an EU financing instrument that was created before the start of the war in Ukraine to provide military support to partner countries.
The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Lithuania are among countries that have already pledged funds for the Czech initiative.
Ukraine has been complaining for months about an increasing shortage of artillery ammunition in its fight against the Russian invasion.
Pavel, a former NATO general, said at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February that about half a million 155 mm caliber rounds and 300,000 122 mm caliber rounds had been "identified" abroad.
Some media reports have hinted that the ammunition could come from countries such as South Korea, South Africa and Turkey.
The Czech initiative is seen as a response to a stalled EU plan to deliver one million rounds of artillery ammunition to Ukraine.