Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on Tuesday, July 11, of the forthcoming delivery by France to Ukraine of Scalp missiles will allow Kiev to strike “backward” from Russian positions, analyzes General Pellistrandi.
Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday July 11, from the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, the delivery to Ukraine by France of Scalp missiles. We still do not know the volume of the shipment, but these weapons will allow Kiev to strike further than the Russian front line, analyzes on franceinfo General Jérôme Pellistrandi, editor-in-chief of the journal National Defense.
franceinfo: What do you need to know about these so-called long-range Scalp missiles?
General Jerome Pellistrandi : The British had already made the same decision a few weeks ago. So it is the same missile that is delivered by France. The British name is Storm Shadow, Scalp for the French.
It is a missile which is fired from planes, planes moreover of Soviet design modified by the Ukrainians which will be able to fire either the British missile or the French missile indiscriminately, depending on the stocks available. This missile is really useful for hitting a target with very high added value. You should know that the front is three or four kilometers wide, so what is important is to be able to hit what is behind: for example a logistics depot which will be a hundred kilometers away, installations or Russian military sites within the perimeter of Ukrainian territory, for example in Crimea.
The point of this type of ammunition is to hit, not the front line – that’s the role of the artillery and in particular the Caesar guns which were delivered several months ago – but to hit well back.
What guarantees that kyiv will not use this ammunition to strike in Russia when this is contrary to French doctrine?
It is the same for the weapons delivered by the Americans. The Ukrainians know that they must respect these red lines, it is extremely important to maintain the confidence of the allies and it is something that was repeated during the summit currently in Vilnius. We see that whenever something happens in Russia, Western weapons are never used. These are Ukrainian drones, made in Ukraine. It’s part of that relationship of trust.
Olivier Marleix, the boss of the LR deputies in the Assembly, says he is worried about this decision to deliver new missiles to Ukraine. He believes that: “Delivering long-range missiles [lui] seems to be part of an escalation”. Do you agree with that?
No, we are not in a form of escalation. The escalation is on the Russian side. Russia continues to bomb. The means are given to the Ukrainians to be able to inflict substantial losses on the Russian military forces to force Moscow to open a discussion, because until now, it is Moscow which continues to bombard the civilian populations. So talking about escalation with the delivery of Scalp missiles in my opinion is not quite appropriate.