When Russia invaded Ukraine, several European countries began signing contracts with ammunition companies, primarily for artillery. Poland, for instance, signed a contract with a South African company, ordering 50,000 shells of 155 mm caliber. However, the South Africans never delivered the order. A Polish newspaper recently revealed that the reason was the intervention of the South African government, a traditional ally of Russia, which prohibited the delivery of the ammunition "out of fear that it would end up in Ukraine."