The Minister of the Armed Forces affirms on franceinfo, Wednesday, that the Ukrainians “are fighting” and that they “need to be helped”. For this, military aid from France “will continue”, explains Sébastien Lecornu.
“Russia cannot and must not win” the war in Ukraine, declares Wednesday February 22 on franceinfo Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armies, questioned from the military command center of Balard south of Paris. “This is the official position of France. It does not mean that Russia must collapse”he adds, in reference to Emmanuel Macron’s statement at the annual Munich Security Conference last weekend.
He claims that Ukrainians “fight” and that they “need to be helped”. For this, France will continue to support them militarily: “Help will continue.” Sébastien Lecornu specifies that this aid “does not participate in the escalation as some of the extreme left or extreme right sometimes suggest in the French public debate”. According to him, “Allowing self-defense, until proven otherwise, is not participating in escalation”.
“Russian aggression in Ukraine must not only end, it must end in failure.”
Sébastien Lecornu, Minister for the Armed Forcesat franceinfo
Regarding this French aid, the minister details wanting to provide aid “on segments in which we are good”. To know : “artillery, Caesar guns are now well known, sometimes older artillery pieces, the equipment that goes around since we can see that today it is the number 1 priority because it is a bit a bathtub without a siphon in which you would permanently have new equipment which is given away but which is not maintained.”
Other segments on which France intends to provide assistance: “The issue of operational fuels, ammunition […] and ground-to-air defense for two purposes: there is no ground maneuver for the Ukrainian armed forces that is not protected by a defense from the sky and then to protect the civilian populations.”
“No taboo” on tank delivery
Then questioned about the Leclerc tanks and the fact that France did not deliver any to Ukraine, “there is no taboo”assures Sébastien Lecornu. “If we had given Leclerc tanks, the leverage effect for other Leclerc tanks in Europe was close to zero. However, the point of delivering tanks, as the Germans did, is to to have a coalition, to allow several countries not only to donate tanks but also spare parts, he explains. That’s what we do for the artillery.”
And the minister continues: “The Leclerc is a very beautiful machine, full of electronics whose maintenance is particularly delicate […] Our public opinions are also rediscovering all the constraints of what technology also brings to the battlefields.”
Sébastien Lecornu admits that “our fleet of Leclerc tanks is not that of the Americans”. It is also justified by specifying that this tank “is no longer produced so giving something that we are not going to replenish for the French armies is not completely the same thing. The Leclerc tank that you give, you will never find it.” Finally, “our army model is defensive, tanks can have different uses, we need armored cavalry because our army model can also lead us to know missions to protect the interests of France elsewhere and who could bring them to use”he concludes.