Slovak citizens' initiative delivers 122 tons of ammunition to Ukraine worth nearly €4 million

Ukraine has received a shipment of artillery ammunition funded by Slovak citizens, who raised over €4 million for the cause earlier this year, according to the Slovak news portal Noviny.

Thanks to the active participation of 70,000 Slovaks, the shipment of ammunition was collected and delivered to a logistics facility, from where it was transferred to Ukraine. According to Fedor Blaščák, a representative of the "Ammunition for Ukraine" campaign, the funds raised were used to purchase 122 tons of ammunition.

The fundraising effort began after the Slovak government declined to support a Czech initiative to collect funds and procure ammunition for Ukraine. Slovak citizens took it upon themselves to raise the money independently.

The process from the announcement of the fundraising campaign to the actual delivery of the ammunition to Ukraine took approximately five months.

"To some, this may seem like a long time, four to five months, but for the supply of military equipment and ammunition, this is a record time. Each unit of ammunition had to be checked, and this required a lot of paperwork," Blaščák explained.

He added that the remaining €500,000 raised for Ukraine will be used to purchase grenade launcher rounds, which are expected to be delivered by the end of the year.

On February 17, during the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel announced that 800,000 rounds of ammunition could be sent to Ukraine within a few weeks.

On March 21, the foreign ministries of Slovakia and Hungary stated that they would not participate in the Czech initiative to procure 800,000 artillery rounds for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In April, it was revealed that Slovak citizens, despite the government's position, had raised nearly €4 million for ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.