PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that France would deliver air defense systems to Ukraine, including radars and missiles, in the coming weeks, during an interview with French TV channel France2.
Macron said France was intensifying its help in the wake of recent Russian airstrikes on Ukraine.
“Everywhere on Ukrainian soil, civilians have been killed in intense bombings, and electricity and heating systems have been hit, Russia’s objective is very clearly to break the Ukrainian resistance,” he said.
“We’re going to deliver … radars, systems and missiles to protect them from these attacks, particularly from drone attacks,” he said.
France’s decision to send air defense systems follows similar announcements from the U.S. and Germany this week.
On Monday, Russian forces retaliated after an explosion on a key bridge between Russia and Crimea with a wave of missile strikes across the country. Following the strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to countries to strengthen the response to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and help boost Ukraine’s air defense systems.
The French president also confirmed that six new Caesars cannons, French truck-mounted howitzers, would be sent to Ukraine, in addition to 18 cannons already delivered “which had been decisive in the Donbas,” according to Macron. The new cannons would be taken from a delivery originally intended for Denmark.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian defense ministry released a mock romantic video asking France to send more cannons instead of flowers and chocolate “to win [their] hearts,” a message Macron said he had found “very moving”.
France has been under pressure to increase arms donations to Ukraine, after international ratings showed France, one of Europe’s defense heavyweights, lagging behind other EU member states.
In the same interview, the French president confirmed that French armed forces were involved in occasional training schemes in Ukraine but were not fighting alongside Ukrainians.
