Norway will allocate up to NOK 1.6 billion (about US$153 million) for the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine.

"Ukraine urgently needs a large amount of artillery shells to withstand the aggressive war against Russia," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, said, as quoted by TV2.

He added that he had spoken with Czech President Petr Pavel about this initiative in the morning.

"Today, the lack of ammunition limits Ukraine's ability to defend itself. This [the supply of shells] gives them the freedom of action to withstand a very brutal attack," Støre said.

He also emphasised that Ukraine has an acute need for ammunition.

At the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel said that Czechia had found up to 800,000 NATO standard-calibre shells that could be sent to Ukraine in a few weeks if funding was found.

Several countries had publicly announced their participation in the Czech initiative. Bloomberg reported that Czechia had found almost all of the funds needed to allocate 800,000 shells to Ukraine.