French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte as he arrives to attend a conference in support of Ukraine with European leaders and government representatives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, February 26, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
PARIS (Reuters) - 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 Monday.
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.
"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)
(Reporting by John Irish; writing by Andrew Gray; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
