Czechia has sourced an additional 700,000 artillery rounds for Ukraine as part of its own initiative to procure critically needed weaponry for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, writes The Wall Street Journal. The plan is to buy more ammunition on top of the 800,000 shells already financed, provided the required funds are available. “[Czechia] has sourced around 800,000 artillery shells from a diverse coalition of suppliers spanning the globe and identified another 700,000 that could be secured with extra funds,” the text reads.
Ukraine will be able to receive the first shipments of weapons in the coming weeks. By the end of the year, a total of 300 units of Soviet-caliber weapons and 500,000 units of NATO-caliber ammunition will be delivered. “More shells will be available as funding comes in, the Czech government said. Altogether, Czech officials say around 3 billion euros, equivalent to $3.3 billion, would secure around 1.5 million shells—a fraction of the $60 billion aid package for Ukraine now stranded in the US Congress,” The Wall Street Journal writes.
https://www.ukrainianworldcongress.o...s-for-ukraine/
Ukraine races to build weapons at home
Ukraine manufactured practically no weapons before Russia invaded in February 2022, but the local arms industry is now booming. Factories spit out shells, mortar rounds, military vehicles, missiles and other items crucial to the war effort. Production tripled in 2023 and is expected to increase sixfold this year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a Ukrainian government meeting in January. Local production is not sufficient to make up for a loss of international support, especially weapons from the United States. But with a $60 billion aid package stalled in Congress, domestic manufacturing is more critical than ever. For certain crucial items, such as the drones that have transformed how the war is fought, Ukraine is already making 90 percent of what it needs, Mykhailo Fedorov, the digital transformation minister, said at a conference last month.
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Some weapons are on the horizon. Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, said last month that Ukraine had deployed a locally made missile with a range of more than 400 miles. He did not provide details. Air defense systems and high-precision missiles similar to the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) are also being developed, officials said. But the high-tech systems that Ukraine needs to push back the Russian invaders are a long way off from being manufactured in Ukraine. “To master such a production, to build such a production, decades must pass,” said Polyvianyi, who is also director of the National Association of Ukrainian Defense Industries, which includes more than 50 private contractors...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ic-production/