The news comes as a welcome boost to Kyiv at a time when Russia has scored several battlefield victories as it tries to push home its material and numerical superiority.

Speaking to Germany’s ARD channel, the Czech President Petr Pavel said: “Together with Prime Minister Petr Fiala, we assume that the first 180,000 artillery rounds will be delivered to Ukraine in June as part of the Czech initiative. There are already contracts for another thousand missiles.”

In all, the ‘Czech initiative’ aims to deliver 800,000 shells to Ukraine by the end of year as it seeks to bolster Ukraine’s dwindling firepower.

The Czech Minister of Defense, Jana Czernochova, said in April that the Czechs hoped to deliver “a significant part of the ammunition purchased under ‘the Czech initiative’ by the end of June.” Now, a firm number seems to have been set in stone by Pavel.

The president continued: “On the one hand we felt it necessary to publicize the initiative to gain support from other countries; on the other hand, this forced us to reveal our cards… This is one of the reasons that the plan is not proceeding as quickly as we would have liked.”

Pavel further underscored the Czech Republic’s support for Ukraine. “We want to make it clear to the Russian aggressor that there is no point in continuing the war and that they will not achieve further military success.”

Alluding to the West’s hesitancy in supplying Ukraine with all the materials necessary, Pavel added that it was vital that lessons be learned from the past and that assistance be provided to the greatest extent possible so as “to prevent further loss of territory and human lives.”