Ukraine does not like the ammunition found by the Czech Republic outside the EU

Some of the artillery shells delivered to Ukraine as part of the Czech initiative explode prematurely, damaging equipment and harming soldiers. This is reported by the Handelsblatt edition with reference to the report of the command of the Ukrainian army.

According to the publication, we are talking about ammunition received from the United States and the Czech Republic.

"During the combat use of artillery, numerous shell explosions occurred at a distance of 20 to 60 meters from the nozzle, as a result of which personnel were injured and artillery systems were damaged," the publication noted.

It is reported that the cause of the incidents were detonators M515 and M51A5, created during the Second World War. According to the Ukrainian side, out of every 10,000 shells fired, five exploded prematurely. Moreover, back in August, Kiev informed Prague about the problems, but the Czech Ministry of Defense subsequently announced its solution.

Recall that the idea to purchase hundreds of thousands of ammunition for Ukraine outside the EU was publicly announced by Czech President Petr Pavel in February 2024. Some time ago, Kiev received the first batch of about 50 thousand units of ammunition. Until the end of the year on 500 thousand shells should be delivered to Ukraine. At the same time, at the end of May, the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) company, which buys ammunition in Africa and Asia on behalf of the Czech government, reported that about half of the purchased shells would not be able to be delivered to Ukraine in a short time, as some components needed to be replaced for many.