Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov canceled his visit to France, scheduled for yesterday, for “security reasons”
This was announced Wednesday night by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. Rustem Umerov will participate via video conference, with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu, in the launch in Paris of an “artillery coalition” that aims to reinforce Kiev’s capabilities once morest Russia.
This coalition, led by France and the United States, is one of the components of the contact group for the defense of Ukraine known as the Ramstein group, which brings together more than 50 countries that support Kiev.
This component in which 23 nations participate “aims to join efforts to help, in the short and long term, Ukraine to have an artillery force adapted to the needs of the counteroffensive and its Army of tomorrow”, according to a statement from the Ministry of the former French Armed Forces.
Lecornu and Oumerov had planned for this followingnoon a visit to the Nexter industrial facility in Bourges, where the Caesar artillery cannons that Kiev loves are produced, and then to the MBDA missile ship in Selles-Saint-Denis, another city in central France. .
The French Ministry of the Armed Forces also announced Wednesday night that it will deliver six Caesar cannons to Kiev “in the coming weeks” and produce another 72 in just over a year for Ukraine.
Six of these, ordered in September as part of a direct commercial contract between Nexter and the Ukrainian State, “with Kiev’s own funds”, will be delivered “in the coming weeks”, with the other 72 having to find ways of financing, it added. source.
France has given or sold 30 Caesar cannons to Ukraine since the start of the war, while Denmark has supplied 19 examples of an eight-wheeled armored version.
French senators stated, Wednesday, that France and other European countries “fall short of expectations” from Ukraine in supplying ammunition that the country urgently needs, urging Kiev’s allies to increase production.
Cédric Perrin, president of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, highlighted that of the target of one million munitions promised by the spring of 2024 by the European Union (EU), only 300,000 have been delivered, Perrin said.
Umerov held a dialogue with his North-American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, on Tuesday regarding the state of play of the war with Russia and the supply of more equipment for Ukrainian air defense.
In a note on the social network X, Rustem Umerov stressed that he spoke with the North American regarding the “current situation on the front line”.
But, also regarding “reinforcing fortifications, providing additional air defense resources and ensuring the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force”.
Washington’s new military aid to Kiev has been under question, given the refusal of Republicans in the US Congress to approve the budget requested by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, due to their own security demands on the US border.
Biden has faced stiff resistance from conservatives on his request for a $110 billion wartime aid package for Ukraine and Israel, as well as other national security priorities.
Almost two years following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the battlefront has been practically frozen for many months, confirming the hypothesis of a prolonged conflict.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24, 2022, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since the Second World War (1939-1945).
Ukraine’s Western allies have supplied weapons to Kiev and approved successive sanctions packages once morest Russian interests to try to diminish Moscow’s ability to finance the war effort.