According to the French defense minister, the training of Ukrainian soldiers on AMX-10 armored personnel carriers is "close to completion." The first vehicles are to be delivered to Ukraine soon. When it comes to main battle tanks and jets, however, France tends to keep a low profile.
According to the Paris Defense Ministry, France will start delivering light battle tanks to Ukraine in the coming days. The training of Ukrainian soldiers on the AMX-10 armored personnel carrier is "close to completion" and delivery will begin "already at the end of next week," said Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu in an interview with the daily newspaper "Le Parisien".
Lecornu initially gave no information on the number of tanks that Paris is supplying to Kiev. The Defense Minister said he did not want to give Russia this "strategically important information". The AMX-10 delivery should therefore take place around the first anniversary of the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24th.
French President Emmanuel Macron approved the delivery of AMX-10 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine in early January. Unlike Germany, however, France has not yet promised to deliver battle tanks to Kiev.
Regarding a possible delivery of fighter jets, which the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is emphatically demanding, Lecornu told the "Parisien" that there was "no taboo". However, the "logistical and practical issues" involved are complex. The defense minister also did not rule out Paris training Ukrainian pilots. Britain has already announced that it will train pilots for the Ukrainian Air Force.
Lecornu defended France's fundamental willingness to engage in dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Paris will keep its channels of communication open "wherever this is useful". This attitude corresponds to the role of a "power like France" - especially in view of the fact that Putin is waging the war against Ukraine "in the shadow of his nuclear deterrent".
French President Macron stressed in an interview published on Saturday that he wanted Russia to fail in Ukraine. However, it is not France's aim to "destroy" Russia.
