France will send 12 additional Caesar self-propelled guns to Ukraine, Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said, Reuters reports.
Speaking after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Reznikov in Paris, Lecornu said they had discussed training Ukrainian pilots to fly French fighter jets, but no decision had yet been made.
Paris has already supplied Kyiv with 18 Caesar howitzers. According to Lecorne, the 12 additional Caesar howitzers will be financed by a 200 million euro ($217 million) fund approved by the French parliament.
“If these 12 Caesars are possible, it’s because Nexter (the manufacturer) has increased production capacity,” he added.
He reminded that the position of France regarding the supply of weapons to Kyiv is that the weapons will be used by Ukraine only for defense.
Training Ukrainian pilots to fly fighter jets was “part of our discussions, but no decision has been made yet,” Lecorniu said.
France will also send 150 troops to Poland to train up to 600 Ukrainian troops there per month, he added.
France and Australia on Monday struck a deal to produce thousands of 155mm shells for supply to Ukraine to support it in its war against Russia, ministers Sébastien Lecornu and Richard Marles announced on Monday.
The 155mm howitzers use several Western artillery pieces supplied to Ukraine for the war against Russia, such as the French Caesar howitzers, the American M777 howitzers or the German Panzerhaubitze 2000.
Source: Hot News
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