France determined to plan military aid for Ukraine

According to RT news agency on January 19, the defense ministers of France and Ukraine announced the formation of an artillery alliance. This alliance includes countries participating in the contact group for the defense of Ukraine in the Ramstein format. This group mainly connects NATO member countries.

"The goal of the alliance is to provide units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with artillery combat capabilities in the short term. In the long term, it aims to create the future artillery of Ukraine through large-scale and innovative technological partnerships," - said the announcement on the official website of the French Ministry of Defense.

According to the current plan, Paris will supply Ukraine with six 155mm CAESAR howitzers in the coming weeks. The amount Kiev will pay for these self-propelled guns has not been disclosed.

By the end of 2024, the French Ministry of Defense is ready to finance the transfer of 12 of the 72 guns to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For the purchase of the remaining 60 self-propelled guns, Paris hopes that the countries participating in the alliance will allocate funds to Kiev. Since February 2022, France has transferred 30 CAESAR guns to Ukraine.

In addition, Paris also increased production.export and supply of 155mm shells to Ukraine. According to the French Ministry of Defense, from February 2022 to April 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were supplied with 1,000 shells per month from France, then 2,000 shells per month. From January 2024, Ukraine will receive 3,000 shells per month.

Paris hopes that the large-scale use of artillery, including CAESAR self-propelled guns, could give the Ukrainian Armed Forces a significant advantage on the battlefield.

"We see trenches reappearing in Ukraine, the structure of which requires the use of artillery. To regain the advantage, Kiev needs to be very mobile. This mobility is made possible in particular by the CAESAR self-propelled guns supplied to Ukraine. Another notable fact is that the use of artillery on a large front means the consumption of a large amount of ammunition," the French Ministry of Defense quoted military analysts as saying.

At the same time, Paris admitted that the speed of military weapons production and aid efforts for Kiev was not enough. Paris is currently looking for opportunities to increase military support for Kiev. French President Emmanuel Macron said the new aid packages will include long-range SCALP cruise missiles, aerial bombs and CAESAR.

Analysts are skeptical about the prospects of the artillery alliance. RISI expert Sergei Ermkov said that Kiev's "sponsors" have created a number of similar formations for air defense and armored vehicles. But this essentially solves nothing. For France, the artillery alliance rather demonstrates a strong determination to continue providing military support to Kiev.

According to analyst Ermkov, France has just announced to increase the supply of weapons to Ukraine, but has to try to save costs. Paris is trying to maintain a balance in the face of pressure from Washington.

"The US is making a lot of efforts to encourage NATO allies to produce more weapons for Kiev. At the same time, Europe does not want to transfer all its weapons to Ukraine, and invest as much as possible in its own military-industrial complex. There are a lot of declared ambitions, but no one is in a hurry to sacrifice their interests. And France is no exception here," - analyst Ermkov said.