A brief hug in the courtyard of the Elysée Palace before the promise of long-term support against the Russian aggressor. Almost two years after the invasion of his country began, Volodymyr Zelensky was greeted by Emmanuel Macron in the late afternoon of February 16th. After more than an hour of talks, both signed the bilateral security agreement that Paris had promised Kiev at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July 2023 to repel deadly attacks by Russian forces.
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In addition, the French leader sharpened his tone like never before against the “Kremlin regime,” which is blamed for the death of opponent Alexei Navalny in prison: “Today, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has become a methodical actor in destabilizing the world .” “, he said, the better to promise the Ukrainian president to support his country for as long as necessary: ”We are determined to defeat Russia at your side,” repeated Emmanuel Macron.
The French president took the opportunity to promise support on an unprecedented scale, which, after long negotiations, was at the heart of the ten-year security agreement signed in favor of Ukraine: up to 3 billion euros of military support is planned for 2024. In doing so, the tenant of the Elysée wants to respond to the demands of his Ukrainian counterpart, who welcomed the agreement with him, but also to the accusations of laxity from some of his European partners who criticize France for not doing enough to arm Ukraine.
Also read the decryption | Article reserved for our subscribers. War in Ukraine: France lags behind in military aid to Kiev
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discretion
On defense, Paris says it has already allocated a total of 3.8 billion euros in military aid to Kiev in 2022 and 2023, a figure well above analysts' estimates but which remains difficult to verify. No details were disclosed regarding the nature of the expenditure. Until now, the Elysée had always refused to make such an assessment, on the one hand not to provoke Russia, but on the other hand not to give it any operational information.
Has this discretion really become obsolete? A document published a little earlier by the Presidency states that France has so far delivered 30 Caesar guns and 4 rocket launchers (LRU), but also 38 AMX-10 RC armored reconnaissance vehicles, 250 VAB armored personnel carriers and 17 Milan anti-missiles Ukraine has delivered tank firing points, 5 Mistral anti-aircraft firing points, two Crotale surface-to-air batteries and not forgetting “about a hundred” Scalp cruise missiles.
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