Arms deliveries to Ukraine are accelerating again. With the announcement, in the space of 24 hours, of the delivery of 17 fighter planes. A new milestone has been reached.
In both cases, it is MiG-29, these famous Soviet-made fighter bombers, among the most widespread military aircraft in the world. These aircraft date from the 1990s, so they do not fully meet Ukrainian demand: latest generation Western-made aircraft, such as the F-16 or the American F-35. But this is still the first time that NATO countries have supplied fighter jets to kyiv.
And the advantage for Ukraine is that these devices are immediately operational: Ukrainian pilots know how to use them. Little Slovakia, five million inhabitants, is making the most significant effort. This Friday, March 17 in Bratislava, its Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced the delivery, in the coming weeks, of 13 of these devices. The day before, Thursday March 16, Poland had initiated the movement by promising the imminent delivery of four MiGs. So in total, that makes 17 planes.
Slovakia specifies that the European Union will compensate it in return, via the financial mechanism called “European Facility for Peace”. Bratislava intended to stop using these MiG-29s anyway and replace them by next year with American F-16s. As for Poland, it has embarked on a huge program to purchase fighter planes, 80 in total, American and especially South Korean aircraft. It should be remembered that the other Western countries are not currently planning to deliver planes to Ukraine.
A first battalion of German Leopard heavy tanks
On the land armament side this time, at the end of January 2023, more than 150 Leopard tanks had been promised in a few days to Ukraine. In the end, it probably won’t be as much. The Netherlands and Denmark, for example, retracted. And it takes a little longer than expected. But Kiev should still quickly have an entire battalion of these German-made tanks, at least 31: 14 tanks supplied by Poland, eight by Canada, eight by Norway and six by Spain. Even if they are essentially old versions of the Leopard, the 2A4 version (we are at the 2A7 today), is a significant upgrade for the Ukrainian army. Especially since Sweden, Finland and Germany are also announcing deliveries. So a second battalion of 31 tanks will probably be formed quickly. Several dozen Ukrainian soldiers are being trained on this equipment in Germany and Spain. kyiv is banking on these Leopard tanks to attempt a counter-offensive in the coming weeks.
Arrival in Ukraine of French AMX light tanks
Finally, on the French equipment side, the most recent fact is the arrival in Ukraine of the AMX-10 RC light tanks. The Ministry of the Armed Forces does not specify their number. And there again, several Ukrainian soldiers are in training on this equipment, in the south of France. Paris will also deliver 10 additional Caesar guns, and, probably by the summer, a SampT/Mamba medium-range surface-to-air battery system. This high-tech Franco-Italian system is eagerly awaited by kyiv. France is also preparing to manufacture a large number of 155 mm shells in high demand by the Ukrainians, all thanks to the powder in quantity supplied by Australia.