Ukraine warned on Thursday of a “ammunition shortage” in its army, on the day of the launch by its allies in Paris of an “artillery” coalition to respond to its crying needs, as the second anniversary of the start of the invasion by the Russian army.
On the ground, the Russian army claimed Thursday the capture of a village in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine where it has been exerting increased pressure for several weeks. The Ukrainian army, for its part, attacked an oil depot in northern Russia overnight using drones, a Ukrainian security source told AFP on Thursday.
“The shortage of ammunition is a very real and pressing problem that our armed forces are currently facing,” lamented Ukrainian Defense Minister Roustem Umerov on X (ex-Twitter), on the occasion of the launch of a “coalition artillery” piloted by France and the United States. “We must strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities to protect the free world against Russian danger.”
The artillery “coalition” is one of the components of the contact group for the defense of Ukraine known as the Ramstein group, bringing together more than 50 countries in several subgroups, from mine clearance to air defense.
“There is no alternative to modern artillery, we must continue our efforts and increase our production of munitions,” declared Mr. Oumerov by videoconference during the opening ceremony, after canceling his visit to Paris ” For safety reasons “.
France proposed on this occasion to “release a sum of 50 million euros” (approximately CA$73.3 million) to “purchase twelve additional Caesars” and announced that it had the capacity to produce 60 more. — it is up to the allies to finance them, to the tune of approximately 250 million euros (approximately CA$366.7 million).
“A sum which it seems to me is accessible for the various budgets of the allies,” insisted the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, in front of the representatives of 23 countries supporting the defense of Ukraine.
kyiv has already deployed 49 Caesars, produced by Nexter (Franco-German group KNDS), including 30 supplied by France and 19, eight-wheeled armored examples, by Denmark. Six more will be delivered “in the coming weeks”, according to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. Mounted on a truck, the Caesar can fire 155mm shells up to 40 kilometers away.
“I called @EmmanuelMacron to thank France for launching the “artillery” coalition for Ukraine and for committing to producing dozens of Caesars,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the social network X.
The two leaders also discussed “the need to further strengthen Ukraine’s air defense,” targeted almost every night by drones and missiles from Moscow, Mr. Zelensky added.
President Macron, for his part, reiterated France’s “unwavering support” for kyiv and reiterated his intention to visit Ukraine in February, according to the Elysée.
Ammunition
To fuel the cannons, the EU intends to provide Ukraine with one million munitions by spring 2024. But only 300,000 shells have been delivered to date, according to European parliamentarians.
The Ukrainians fire between 5,000 and 8,000 shells daily, compared to between 10 and 15,000 on the Russian side, Cédric Perrin, president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French Senate, stressed on Wednesday, estimating that “national and European production (was) extremely low, […] not up to Ukrainian expectations.
Mr. Lecornu, for his part, insisted on the tripling of French munitions deliveries to Ukraine, from 1,000 units per month to 2,000 during the first year of war, and which should increase to 3,000 shells from January.
“We are in the process of getting our hands back on stocks of powder. We recycle powders from munitions that have not been used,” he told journalists.
The minister also announced the delivery of around fifty A2SM air-ground guidance kits per month from January, throughout the year. Medium-range, they can be adapted to “Soviet-class” aircraft such as Migs and Sukhoi, which Ukraine uses, he assured.
France is “in the process of finalizing a security agreement” with kyiv of the type that concluded on Friday between the United Kingdom and Ukraine over ten years, Mr. Macron also indicated on Tuesday.
Paris finally denied on Thursday having deployed “mercenaries” in Ukraine, in reaction to assertions from Moscow which claims to have targeted a building housing “French mercenaries” in Kharkiv (north-east) on Tuesday.