Ukraine will receive "between 120 and 140" Western heavy tanks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba said on Tuesday, a few days after the Westerners gave the green light to such deliveries, after long procrastination. "In the 'first wave of contributions', the Ukrainian armed forces will receive between 120 and 140 modern tanks of Western models," the minister said in a video on Facebook, recalling that these were German-designed Leopard 2s. , British Challenger 2 and American Abrams.
This is the first time that kyiv has revealed the total number of these tanks that its Western allies have promised it. The United Kingdom will supply Challengers at the end of March and Germany intends to send its first Leopard 2s "late March-early April". Washington, for its part, announced the dispatch of 31 Abrams. But the delivery process could take months, according to several chancelleries, between upstream repair and maintenance needs, in addition to the training of Ukrainian soldiers on these models which they have never used in the field before.
In addition to these logistical problems, other countries, such as France, are hesitating at this stage before sending their stock of heavy tanks to Ukraine, fearing in particular a possible weakening of their military capabilities. Ukraine has already received foreign tanks in recent months, including more than 250 modernized versions of the Soviet T-72 from Poland, but so far the West has been wary of sending their modern models out of fear. that this does not provoke a new Russian escalation.
France will provide Ukraine at war with Russia with 12 additional 155 mm Caesar guns, in addition to the 18 pieces already delivered, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu announced on Tuesday. These 12 medium-range guns will be "financed as part of the support fund of 200 million euros" set up by France, said the minister during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiï Reznikov. They will be added to the 18 Caesars already delivered by France - one of which is out of order - as well as the 19 Caesar guns promised by Denmark in kyiv in mid-January.
Copenhagen had ordered these artillery pieces from the French group Nexter between 2017 and 2019. But deliveries have been delayed and only a few copies have already been delivered. "We are now on a mass (of Caesar) which is not negligible", commented Sébastien Lecornu. France also promised on Tuesday to deliver to Ukraine a Ground Master 200 (GM200) radar produced by France's Thales.
This medium-range radar can detect an enemy aircraft at 250 km and engage it at 100 km, whether it flies at low speed and low altitude like drones or at high altitude like fighter planes. It also provides protection against rockets and artillery fire by alerting ground troops of enemy fire, says its manufacturer, who has sold more than 60 copies worldwide. It is transportable on a truck. Paris has also "engaged in discussions with our allies to make it possible to always have a sufficient stock" of French Crotale surface-to-air missiles for Ukraine, underlined Sébastien Lecornu.
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