Czech Rep. to spend part of interest from frozen Russian assets on arming Ukraine

The Czech Republic will use some of the interest earned on Russian assets frozen in the European Union (EU) to buy hundreds of thousands more artillery shells for Ukraine, the Czech Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Western countries blocked about $300 billion worth of sovereign Russian assets since the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022.

EU countries are taking the interest earned on the assets—which include bonds and other securities bought by the Russian central bank—and putting it into an EU fund to aid Ukraine

EU governments agreed in June to use 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in profits generated by the assets to buy arms and pay for other kinds of support to Ukraine.

The Czech Defense Ministry said some of that money would be used for an effort it has been leading to buy artillery ammunition for Ukraine around the world, funded by Western partners.

"Thanks to proceeds from frozen Russian finances, released by the European Union, we will be able to supply several hundreds of thousands of large-caliber ammunition rounds to Ukraine," Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said.