In case the transfer of 1 million artillery shells from the EU to Ukraine by April fails, there is a "plan B" to solve this problem. It is the purchase of weapons from third countries, including South Korea, South Africa and Turkey.
This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte on the X network.
"The Netherlands is allocating more than €100 million for the Czech initiative to quickly deliver hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to Ukraine," he said.
According to French President Emanuel Macron, after the conference on support for Ukraine, a coalition to provide Ukraine with long-range weapons is possible. In addition, the West may engage third countries to provide Ukraine with ammunition. In particular, the Netherlands has already accepted the proposal and agreed to allocate €100 million for the purchase of artillery shells outside the EU.
"The Netherlands is signing a security agreement with Ukraine to continue supporting the country for at least the next 10 years. To ensure the future security of Ukraine and the Netherlands," Rutte said.
They also talked about other forms of support for Ukraine - not only weapons, but also demining, border guard training, and industrial cooperation.
The Dutch Prime Minister expressed hope that "other countries will follow the Netherlands". At the same time, he emphasized that other countries that would provide ammunition asked to remain anonymous.
In turn, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that nearly 15 countries have expressed interest in the initiative, which focuses on finding urgently needed artillery ammunition for Ukraine on world markets.
It is worth noting that previously, the purchase of shells outside the EU was blocked by France, Greece and Cyprus. This was because France lobbied for its own defense industry. Greece has an ammunition manufacturer, Hellenic Defense Systems, but it is not known for its high production of 155-mm shells. Moreover, as of 2022, production was in the process of relocating from Athens.
There is another aspect to this that is closely related to Cyprus, which naturally follows Greece's political path - Turkey. Because if it decides to buy shells from third countries, Ankara could receive quite a bit of money.
Earlier we wrote that Macron announced the creation of a coalition to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles.