Norway pledges $153 million to Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Thursday that his country will allocate up to 1.6 billion Norwegian crowns ($153 million) for a Czech-led effort to purchase ammunition for Ukraine from third countries.

"Ukraine urgently needs a large amount of artillery shells to withstand the aggressive war against Russia," Store said in a statement. "Today, the lack of ammunition limits Ukraine's ability to defend itself," he said, adding that the supply of shells gives Kyiv "the freedom of action to withstand a very brutal attack."

The Czech Republic is leading an initiative to provide up to 1 million 155 mm artillery shells and other artillery ammunition to Ukraine that, according to the Financial Times, will cost an estimated $1.5 billion.

But it appears that Czechia had found up to 800,000 NATO standard-caliber shells that could be sent to Ukraine within weeks if crucial financing is provided by allies, Czech President Petr Pavel said last month at the Munich Security Conference.

Ukraine faces major ammunition shortages due to delays in U.S. aid, with Kyiv appealing to other nations to deliver more ammunition.

Last month, the White House said the fall of Avdiivka in Ukraine to Russian forces was a direct result of Ukraine's ammunition shortages as Kyiv is desperately waiting for the American Congress to pass the military aid package.

Norway has donated several rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition to Ukraine since Russia launched a "special military operation" against Ukraine in 2022.

"We have donated complete shells from the Norwegian Armed Forces' own stockpile, and we have cooperated with Denmark to assemble shells with sub-components from both countries," said the Norwegian government.

Ukraine has a pressing need for large quantities of artillery ammunition, and "we hope that Norwegian and European support for the Czech initiative will help Ukraine receive large quantities of new ammunition as soon as possible," Defense Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said in the statement.

The Norwegian government also said it has taken several major decisions on military support for Kyiv in 2024 and expressed that Norway, other allies and the EU, have implemented measures that will help "to increase the production capacity of the defense industry in the longer term."

"Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is in clear violation of International Law and remains the greatest challenge to Norway's security policy," said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide in a statement.

Barth Eide added that no other crisis or conflict has the potential to affect "Norway's security to the same extent."