VILNIUS, July 11 (Portal) – France will join Britain in supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles that have a range of 250 km (155 miles). This allows Ukrainian forces to meet Russian troops and supplies deep behind the French front, officials said on Tuesday.
Emmanuel Macron said he decided to increase military aid to Ukraine to support its counter-offensive as the French president arrived at a summit of the 31-member NATO alliance in Lithuania.
“I have decided to increase shipments of weapons and equipment to give Ukrainians the ability to conduct in-depth attacks,” Macron said, but declined to say how many missiles would be sent.
According to a French diplomatic source, 50 SCALP missiles were made by the European manufacturer MBDA.
The missiles would come from French military stocks, a French military source told reporters, adding that the number was “significant”.
Paris has previously delivered Mistral shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles and Crotale short-range anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, which are used to intercept low-flying missiles and aircraft.
Ukraine has been asking for longer-range missiles for months, but the United States, its main supplier, has yet to agree to supply those missiles.
Britain announced in May that it was supplying the MBDA-manufactured Franco-British missile, which it calls Storm Shadow.
The French version, known as SCALP, has a range of about 250 km, three times longer than Ukraine’s existing missile capabilities.
The missiles would be integrated into Ukrainian Russian-made warplanes, the French military source said.
The source dismissed claims that the missiles were an escalation, saying their use was proportionate and noting that Russia was using cruise missiles launched from thousands of kilometers away.
“It rebalances things and allows Ukraine to go deep into Russian lines and penetrate tougher targets,” he said.
Macron said the delivery was in line with France’s policy of helping Ukraine defend its territory, implying that Paris had received assurances from Kiev that the missiles would not be fired at Russia.
“There are guarantees for (limiting) the use of these missiles to internationally recognized borders of Ukraine,” the military source said.
Reporting by John Irish; Edited by Sabine Siebold, Alex Richardson and Alexander Smith
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