Netherlands to allocate 100 million euro to Ukraine for artillery shells

The Netherlands will contribute 100 million euros ($108.47 million) to a Czech initiative to buy ammunition for Ukraine from countries around the world, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on February 26.

Rutte was speaking after a meeting in Paris to bolster support for Ukraine as it struggles to fight Russia's invasion, convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, Reuters reports.

"I hope other countries will follow," said Rutte, who is the frontrunner to become the next secretary general of NATO. He said the countries that would provide the munitions had asked not to be identified.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, also speaking after the Paris meeting, said some 15 countries had shown interest in the initiative, which has focused on finding urgently needed artillery ammunition for Ukraine on world markets.

"A number of states in the midst of the negotiations signed up to the initiative, or my colleagues told me that they would discuss it quickly," Fiala told reporters.

"I think that in the end, the action will have a lot of support in this way, so I estimate it to be 15 states," he said.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said countries at the Paris meeting had asked their defence ministers to come up with plans in the next 10 days to deliver more munitions to Ukraine.

($1 = 0.9219 euros)