The Czech Republic has searched all over the world for grenades to buy and donate to Ukraine.
It has previously been unknown who was bought from, now Serbia says that it was sold to the Czechs.
– We cannot export to Ukraine or Russia, but we have had many contracts with Americans, Spaniards, Czechs and others. What they do in the end is their job, says Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Ukraine has long raised the alarm about the shortage of artillery ammunition and sought all the help it can get from its Western partners. As the production in Europe could not meet the demand, Czech President Petr Pavel introduced an initiative last spring to buy hundreds of thousands of artillery shells together with other partners from the West, to then donate to Ukraine.
The seller has been secret
Initially, 800,000 grenades were located and Sweden, among others, joined and chose to contribute SEK 336 million. The Czechs’ hunt for grenades continued and later it was announced that 700,000 more grenades had been found.
However, where all the grenades came from has not been revealed. It has previously been speculated that they would have been bought from Turkey, South Africa or South Korea.
“For security reasons, we cannot comment on which countries will participate in the purchase of the ammunition. We also cannot tell you where the ammunition is to be bought from,” the Czech Ministry of Defense wrote to TV4 Nyheterna in connection with the initiative being presented.
Vucic: “These are our Slavic brothers”
In an interview with the Financial Times says the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, that the country has sold artillery shells to the value of 800 million euros since 2022, which ended up in Ukraine via other countries. Vucic says that they cannot export to Ukraine or Russia, but that, among other things, they have done business with the Czech Republic, Spain, the USA and several others.
Serbia and the Kremlin have long been close to each other. Along with Belarus, Serbia is the only European country that has not imposed sanctions against Russia. From the Russian side, Serbia has been supported in the resistance to Kosovo’s independence, lending money and assisting with arms deliveries.
Despite that, Serbian shells have ended up with the Ukrainian defense.
– I need to take care of my people, that’s all I can say. We have friends in Kyiv and Moscow. They are our Slavic brothers, says Vucic.
The expert: Obviously he doesn’t want to admit
President Vucic describes the sale as part of Serbia’s “economic revival” and that he has no responsibility for where the ammunition they sell ends up.
Ivan Vejvoda, former adviser to the Serbian government and who today works at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, believes that Vucic does not want to show off the help Ukraine received from the Serbian side.
– He talks vaguely about this. It is clear that he does not want to admit this and wants to keep the far right happy. At the same time, Serbia has actually given massive help to Ukraine, says Ivan Vejvoda to the Financial Times.