A Caesar in action on the Ukrainian front. June 15, 2022. SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP
The French supplies and the 19 Danish Caesars form a considerable artillery mass.
If the Ukrainians don’t already have Leclerc tanks and planes, they’ll get new Caesar guns. At the end of their meeting on Tuesday in Paris, Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu and his counterpart Oleksiy Reznikov took stock of the help France will continue to offer Kyiv to defend against the Russian invasion. The development fund set up last year, endowed with 200 million euros, “enables the donation of twelve Caesar guns”, announced the Federal Minister of Defense and was pleased that the manufacturer Nexter had succeeded in “increasing its production capacity”. . The delivery date has yet to be determined. Thanks to this support fund, Kyiv will also be able to purchase a GM 200 medium-range radar from Thales.
Of the 18 Caesar guns already delivered, one is out of service. The other 17 “need maintenance” because of “combat or classic wear and tear of equipment,” continued Sébastien Lecornu. To this list must be added the 19 Caesar guns linked to an order from Denmark that Copenhagen will eventually deliver to Ukraine. From now on “we are in a non-negligible mass”, emphasized the minister. To complete the picture, he announced the delivery of fuel and recalled the agreement signed with Australia the day before to produce 155mm ammunition. In addition, 150 French soldiers will be sent to Poland to conduct training missions for the benefit of the Ukrainian army. “The goal is to train 600 soldiers a month,” he said.
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Oleksiy Reznikov has repeatedly thanked France for their support. But he didn’t hide the fact that his “list to Santa Clause” was still long. With Sébastien Lecornu, he discussed his fighter aircraft needs without specifying the type of equipment, which he specified in order not to reignite the debate about the Mirage 2000 delivery. But he’s clearly trying to spark a movement. “There are no taboos,” said Sébastien Lecornu, acknowledging that a discussion could be initiated. But behind the scenes, within the armies, there are no plans to deploy these devices at the moment. If the Ukrainian pilots use MiGs, then handling Mirage would require long training. US President Joe Biden has also ruled out the delivery of F-16s for the time being. “I’m optimistic,” Oleksiy Reznikov assured nonetheless, recalling Westerners’ earlier misgivings about artillery or tanks.