German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced an additional €300 million ($345 million) for the Czech-led ammunition initiative for Ukraine on 9 June 2026. The funds will purchase roughly 50,000 rounds of long-range ammunition, Pistorius said after meeting new Czech Defense Minister Jaromír Zůna in Berlin.
The pledge keeps Germany positioned as the initiative's largest foreign backer at a moment when donor numbers are thinning and Prague's new government has retreated on several other Ukraine fronts. The Czech-led channel has delivered 4.4 million large-caliber shells since early 2024 — more than half of all such ammunition Ukraine has received over that period, according to Czech President Petr Pavel.
What the pledge buys
The new commitment lifts Germany's total share of the initiative past €1.2 billion, building on roughly €900 million already disbursed. Pistorius called the Czech channel an essential contribution to Ukraine's ammunition supply and said Berlin would continue to back it.
"Germany will contribute an additional €300 million to this initiative — that's approximately 50,000 rounds of long-range ammunition," Pistorius said.
Prague's new government holds the channel
The Berlin session was Pistorius's first in-person meeting with Zůna, who took office in December 2025 as part of Andrej Babiš's coalition government. Zůna, a retired lieutenant general, was nominated for the post by the center-left SPD party.
Babiš has cut planned Czech defense spending for 2026 and secured a Czech opt-out from the European Union's €90 billion Ukraine funding package. The new government also put on ice a previously discussed transfer of L-159 combat aircraft to Ukraine.
The ammunition initiative is the major exception. Zůna confirmed in December that the channel would continue, and the Berlin meeting was his first public reaffirmation of that position to a NATO partner.
"Germany plays an important role as a supplier of military equipment and ammunition and, together with our defence industry, makes a significant contribution to European security," Zůna told reporters at the Bendlerblock.
Donor base thins as need grows
The initiative needs €5 billion in 2026 but had raised only €1.4 billion by February, Reuters reported. Pavel said last month that the number of contributing countries has dropped.
The channel has firm contracts to deliver about 1 million rounds to Ukraine in 2026, the Czech Defense Ministry said — well below the 1.8 million delivered in 2025 and the 1.5 million in 2024. Russia continues replenishing its own stockpiles, including through North Korean deliveries that NATO officials estimate at 9 million rounds since 2023.
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