Ukraine could face an ammunition shortfall after half the member nations of a Czech-led ammunition supply effort stopped contributing.In an interview published Tuesday, the hawkish Czech President Petr Pavel revealed to the Financial Times that nine of the 18 member nations of the effort had stopped contributing, jeopardizing the supply of large-caliber ammunition to Ukraine.“It cannot be replaced easily by anything else,” Pavel said.
Pavel would not say which countries withdrew and which were staying, but a Western military official told the outlet that Germany and some Nordic countries were still contributing.
The main reason for the pullout was the accession of Andrej Babis to the Czech Republic’s premiership in December 2025. Babis sang a very different tune on Ukraine, pledging to stop prioritizing aid to Ukraine and instead divert funds to relieve pressure on Czech citizens hurt by the global energy crisis.
The Western military official told the Financial Times that “some countries now feel that it is strange to pay for something that is not even properly supported by the ruling politicians of the lead country.”
The program began in early 2024, buoyed by increasing U.S. hesitance to supply ammunition to Ukraine and increasing Russian gains on the battlefield. Russia has held a massive firepower advantage throughout the entire war, thanks in large part to its deep Soviet-era stocks of heavy artillery ammunition.
