President Duda: Poland ready to help deliver ammunition to Ukraine

Hosting Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and leaders of some European Union allies in Prague, Fiala said ahead of their meeting that the first deliveries from the initiative, which sources supplies outside the EU, will happen in June.

"The first tens of thousands of 155 mm (caliber) ammunition will be delivered in June," Fiala said. "Ukraine can expect the first shipment within the next days."

Ukraine has been urging the Western allies to step up military aid to help it repel Russian forces, now well into the third year of their invasion.

The Czechs, through a team of government officials and private companies, have been working to source ammunition rounds from around the world.

Fiala said the money raised so far had come from 15 EU and NATO members, without giving details.

President of Poland Andrzej Duda said he was ready "to mobilize the necessary instruments required for the effective transport of ammunition to Ukraine".

"We hope that the rapid delivery of artillery ammunition to Ukraine will help to change the negative trend on the Russian-Ukrainian front. We are aware that obtaining ammunition is one thing, and transferring it is another," Duda added, stressing the Rzeszów-Jasionka airport, located close to the border with Ukraine, will serve as a logistic hub in the project.

Several countries have made pledges in recent months.

Germany said in April it would support Ukraine with 180,000 rounds of artillery shells as a contribution to the Czech plan, at a price tag of 576 million euros.

"We need it (the ammunition) at the front lines as soon as possible," Shmyhal said.

"The second area of today's discussion is providing Ukraine with air-defence systems to secure our skies. We need, as a minimum, seven Patriot systems and modern combat aircraft also as soon as possible."

The talks in Prague also included Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina.

Also on Tuesday, the Netherlands said it would deliver parts of a Patriot air defence system to Ukraine and is talking to other countries in order to assemble a complete system.

Fiala, in remarks earlier in the day, also echoed the position of NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg in saying Western countries should lift restrictions that have barred Ukraine from using donated weapons to strike Russian territory.