A reinforcement of weight for the Ukrainian army. The AMX-10 light battle tanks will be delivered “from the end of next week” to Ukraine, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu announced on Sunday February 19 in an interview with Le Parisien, without specifying the number. These deliveries will thus coincide with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which took place on February 24, 2022.
At the beginning of January, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, announced the decision to send these tanks, as part of an upgrade of the equipment delivered by NATO to Ukraine, after long months of reluctance for fear of push Moscow to escalation. The French president had not then specified the number of tanks that could be sent.
“I assume not to say the number, so as not to give strategic information to Russia”, underlined the Minister of the Armed Forces to the French daily. On the other hand, he indicated that the training of the Ukrainians in this new equipment was “about to be completed”, hence the delivery “as soon as the end of next week”.
“In general, the pace of training is accelerating, both on our national territory – with specialized training on the equipment we deliver – and in Poland – with more general training for entire battalions at the rate of 600 soldiers per months from March,” also said Sébastien Lecornu.
Regarding the potential delivery of combat aircraft strongly demanded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sébastien Lecornu underlines that there “is no taboo” but points out the complexity of the “logistical and practical questions”. The French minister also does not rule out training pilots, like the British.
Sébastien Lecornu also defended France’s position to maintain “channels of discussion with the Russians whenever it was useful”, echoing the words of Emmanuel Macron. “That’s the role of an endowed power like France,” he stressed, recalling that Russian President Vladimir Putin was waging “this conventional war under the shadow of his nuclear deterrent.”
“This is what makes one of the differences with other previous conflicts and leads us to a mastery of escalation,” he insisted. Emmanuel Macron claimed to want “defeat” of Moscow against Ukraine, while warning those who want “above all to crush Russia”, which will “never” be the “position of France”.