French President Emmanuel Macron this week is likely to announce Paris' support for the Czech Republic's proposal to purchase ammunition for Ukraine in countries outside the EU, Bloomberg said on Tuesday, citing sources.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to pledge as early as this week to help a Czech project to purchase hundreds of thousands of artillery shells from outside the EU to help Ukraine, people familiar with the matter said.

"Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark have all joined France in backing the plan to buy non-EU ammunition, and Macron will discuss the proposal with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala during a trip to Prague on Tuesday, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A separate discussion of EU defense and foreign ministers is expected to take place later in the week to hammer out the details," the agency said.

At the Munich Security Conference held in February, Czech President Petr Pavel assured that Prague has data on the ability to supply Kyiv with 500,000 rounds of 155 mm caliber and 300,000 rounds of 122 mm caliber, within a few weeks. However, these supplies need to be financed. At the same time, the president did not name possible suppliers.

Prague reported that it had received preliminary consent from Canada, Denmark, Lithuania and Latvia to participate in the initiative. After a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk last week, Fiala said Warsaw had also expressed its readiness to join in the plan implementation.

A source in the ruling circles of France assured Bloomberg that funds for the purchase of rounds outside the EU will not be taken from EU structures, such as the European Peace Facility: contracts for the purchase of products will be concluded on a bilateral basis.

The Czech Republic will play the role of coordinator of the program, and the priority will be to meet Ukraine's most urgent artillery supply needs.

However, the agency's interlocutor explained that some in the EU consider the figures for future purchases of rounds announced by the Czech Republic to be too optimistic.