“Help Ukrainians protect themselves.“France will deliver radars and anti-aircraft missiles in the coming weeks to protect Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on France 2 on Wednesday. by Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday after the strikes on Kyiv and other major cities, asking for help to create a “shield” over Ukraine.
>> Interview with Emmanuel Macron on France 2: we deciphered seven statements by the Head of State in the political program “L’Evénement”
Thus, Paris, which has already supplied Ukraine with 18 Caesar guns of 155 mm with a range of 40 km, mounted on trucks, plans to deliver more to kyiv. But what exactly are we talking about? Emmanuel Macron did not specify the nature or the number of systems delivered, simply speaking of “radars and systems with anti-aircraft missiles”. It could actually be “Crotale” missiles. France has twelve of them and could give three, according to the figures put forward by several military analysts, who specify that these are short-range missiles which complement the systems already provided by the Americans and the Germans.
Emmanuel Macron also recalled the upcoming delivery of six additional Cesar guns which should therefore be added to the 18 already delivered. These armaments, which were to be urgently delivered to Denmark, will therefore be reallocated to Ukrainian defence. However, what the Ukrainians would have wanted are “Mamba” anti-aircraft batteries, of Franco-Italian manufacture, ultra-efficient and very recent, but the existing and limited quantity of which is already assigned to French defence. What to try to answer the critics who accuse France of not doing enough: “We cannot deliver as much as, sometimes, the Ukrainians would like. When President Zelensky asks to massively deliver certain devices, I am obliged to keep some of them for ourselves to protect ourselves, or to protect our Eastern flank, which we did in Romania”slipped the Head of State against Caroline Roux on France 2, recalling in particular that Paris has just reinforced the arsenal there.
New radars, systems and anti-aircraft missiles for one purpose: “help Ukrainians protect themselves, especially from drone attacks“, explained Emmanuel Macron. Because it is these Iranian-made drones which were indeed used massively by the Russian army on Monday and Tuesday to bomb Ukrainian cities. However, these new generation “Crotale” are particularly effective in countering devices operating at low altitude and at low speed, which is the case of the “suicide drones” used by the Moscow forces.
Finally, Emmanuel Macron was confident about the effects of nuclear deterrence. “The less we talk about it, the less we agitate the threat, the more credible we are“, he recalled, warning against the risks of overbidding and escalation. For the president, It will take a day “come back around the table and negotiater”: “Negotiating is not giving up“, he added, justifying, thus, to continue to maintain a channel of discussion with Vladimir Putin.