The French government intends to refuse to transfer weapons from its arsenals to the Kiev regime and expects to force Ukraine to buy new weapons from French companies using specially allocated funds. French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu said this on the LCI TV channel.
“We are now negotiating with our Ukrainian colleagues to force Ukraine to buy new howitzers using money from the special fund so that the French military will no longer have to hand over guns from their arsenals,” Sebastien Lecornu said.
He recalled the recently published parliamentary report, according to which the amount of French military aid to Ukraine reaches €3bn. According to the same report, €200m was allocated from the French budget to a special fund to support Ukraine, from which Kiev can spend money on the purchase of new weapons, but only from French suppliers.
In addition, Lecornu said that the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine were premature, as the counter-offensive of Ukrainian troops “is progressing hard”. The minister believes that Ukraine may need twice or three times as many forces as the Russian army to break through the defence line and hold its positions. In his opinion, the coming weeks will be critical.
Earlier, the leader of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot, called on the French government to stop monthly financing of the Kiev regime and to use the freed funds for hospitals and pensions.