The Czech Republic received compensation for military equipment supplied to Ukraine from the European Peace Facility (EPF) totalling CZK 372 million for 2024, and will receive further compensation this year, the Defence Ministry announced on its website yesterday.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Czech Republic has received over CZK 730 million from the EPF.
Defence Minister Jana Cernochova (ODS) said last month that the Czech Republic has provided Ukraine with military equipment worth CZK 7.3 billion.
The original purpose of the EPF was to finance EU missions and operations and to contribute to the stabilisation of partner countries in Europe’s neighbourhood, but after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the fund was used to reimburse EU member states for military equipment supplied to the invaded country.
Cernochova said support for Ukraine through military supplies must continue.
“I welcome that the EU sees the importance of support and is reimbursing the costs,” she said. “By supplying military equipment to Ukraine, we are not weakening our own defence capability because we can use the financial compensation to buy new military equipment.”
The EPF is gradually compensating supplies of equipment and armaments for the Ukrainian armed forces. Member states have agreed on the rules, which include strong control and monitoring mechanisms.
“The reimbursement of financial compensation for supplies to Ukraine will continue until at least 2027,” the ministry said.
The EPF also finances the EU assistance mission to Ukraine (EUMAM). The Czech Republic participates in the training of Ukrainian soldiers within this mission. Cernochova said in December that the Czech army has so far been involved in training more than 7,000 Ukrainian soldiers, not only in the Czech Republic but also in Poland.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told news website Yevropeyska Pravda that about 80% of the ammunition promised to Kyiv within the Czech initiative was delivered to Ukraine. He said 520,000 rounds of 155 mm caliber ammunition and a significant number of rounds of other calibers were supplied to Ukraine by the end of last year.
Sybiha said in the interview published yesterday that he had received confirmation that all the promised artillery rounds have been bought, and are yet to be delivered. The Ukrainian minister thanked the Czech Republic for this initiative. He said that Russia was also trying to buy ammunition through intermediaries around the world.
