France pledges monthly supply of dozens of fighter jet missiles and shells to Ukraine
France will start delivering dozens of missiles for adapted Soviet-era jets and an additional thousand artillery shells to Ukraine every month.
French Minister of Defense Sébastien Lecornu announced this in an interview with France Inter, Rubryka reports.
Lecornu mentioned that France plans to supply Ukraine with medium-range air-to-surface missiles called ADSM. "We managed to adapt them for use with Soviet-era planes because initially, these missiles were intended for use with Rafales or Mirages… We will deliver 50 of them monthly starting from January throughout 2024," said the minister.
Lecornu added that France would also increase the monthly volumes of shells sent to Ukraine. The head of the defense department emphasized that from the early months of the war until the beginning of 2023, France provided a thousand shells per month. "Since last February, it's been 2,000 per month, and from this month, it will be 3,000 shells every month," said Lecornu.
The minister stated that for security reasons, he would not disclose the delivery dates for the 40 long-range SCALP missiles announced by Macron.
Lecornu also revealed that France could manufacture 78 Caesar self-propelled howitzers by early next year.
The French Minister of Defense stated that he strongly disagreed with claims that Russia had completely seized the initiative on the front. He pointed out that although the Ukrainian counteroffensive did not yield the anticipated results, Russia also did not achieve significant success, and the front line remains relatively stable.
While France will continue assisting Ukraine with weapons, it aims to change the tactics of these supplies.
Here's what we know about France's assistance to Ukraine
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, France has been one of the European countries actively providing financial and military support to our country.
It recently became known that from January 1, 2024, the Artillery Coalition started operating in Paris to strengthen the Ukrainian army. This coalition is led by France and the United States within the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. Within this framework, Ukraine hopes to receive additional Caesar self-propelled artillery systems and ammunition for them and implement artificial intelligence in their management.
It was also revealed that Ukrainian Armed Forces pilots will start arriving in France next year for training as part of military aid.
Moreover, the subsidiary company Verney-Carron of the French Cybergun signed a contract with "Ukrspetsexport" for a record amount of €36 million to supply various weapons to Ukraine.
France has also supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces' offensive.
As previously reported, France provided a powerful armored package to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
