Ukraine announced on Tuesday that it has received a new type of salvo fire system for the war with Russia, with the new batch arriving this time from France, Ukrainian Pravda reports.

“The 4th brother of the Long Arm family arrived in Ukraine (without mentioning the volley fire systems received by Ukraine), the French LRU. The Ukrainian army is now even stronger to deter and destroy the enemy. This is the result of the apparent friendship between Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Emmanuel Macron,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on his Twitter page.

“Thank you [ministrului francez al Apărării] Sebastien Lecorne, the French government and people!” he emphasized.

The LRU (Lance Roquette Unitaire) is the French variant of the American M270 multiple launch system.

The other three “brothers” Oleksiy Reznikov mentions are the HIMARS systems Ukraine received from the US on June 23, the M270 launchers sent by Britain to Kyiv in mid-July, and the MARS II provided by Germany in early August.

The German MARS II systems, in turn, are a modified version of the American M270 launchers.

French launchers have a firing range close to HIMARS

The LRU launchers that the Ukrainians have now received use the M31 missile and have a range of about 70 kilometers, close to the range of the US-supplied HIMARS systems.

HIMARS systems have a much longer maximum effective range, but the missiles provided for them by the American side can hit targets at a maximum distance of 80 kilometers.

French launchers can be loaded with 12 rockets that can be launched in rapid succession, like the rest of the systems of this type.

In late October, France also announced that it would supply Ukraine with its Crotal air defense system, amid repeated attacks by Russian forces on the country’s energy infrastructure.

French Prime Minister Élisabeth Bornet then announced that her government was considering sending LRU systems to Ukraine.

Follow the latest events of the 279th day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.