According to the report, the contract for the supply of 50,000 shells of NATO caliber of 155 mm was concluded in 2022 shortly after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.
The parties decided to terminate the contract in July 2023, the Polish Armament Agency reportedly said.
South Africa's restrictions on ammunition exports blocked Germany's Rheinmetall from sending 155 mm artillery shells to Poland and, possibly, Ukraine, a Polish newspaper reported on Wednesday.
According to the outlet, the South African subsidiary of the German concern Rheinmetall Denel Munition, which was ordered with the production of shells for Poland, was unable to obtain a license for their export from the South African government.
Pretoria reportedly feared that the ammunition would be sent to Ukraine.
According to the report, Poland needs to create a reserve of at least 1 million shells.
In the spring of 2023, the Polish government of Mateusz Morawiecki adopted the National Program for the Creation of an Ammunition Reserve.
Over the course of several years, large purchases of ammunition were to be made abroad, and a specially created consortium was to build a plant for their production.
Some of the purchases were made in South Korea.
The new authorities of the Eastern European nation continued to purchase ammunition abroad.
According to the Ministry of Defense, a large contract for their supply was signed in December 2023.
Earlier, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger demanded in a letter to the head of the UN Security Council that Kiev stop its support for terrorism in the Sahel.
