France is joining the Czech initiative to purchase shells for Ukraine. Earlier, Lithuania took the same step

Prague, Czech Republic (Svidomi) — French President Emmanuel Macron said during a visit to the Czech Republic that his country supports the Czech initiative to purchase 800,000 shells for Ukraine outside the European Union.

"We have accelerated and increased our production in Europe. We delivered those stocks [of ammunition to Ukraine] that were available. We must now look beyond what we can produce and look for the remaining capacities in third, non-European countries to meet Ukraine's short-term ammunition needs," Macron said.

He also called on Alliance members "not to be cowards".

On March 4, after a telephone conversation with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said that her country would support the Czech initiative on munitions.

At the last Munich conference, Czech President Petr Pavel said that in cooperation with Canada and Denmark, the Czech Republic had found 500,000 155mm ammunition and 300,000 122mm shells that could be delivered within a few weeks, provided the necessary funds were available.