2024-01-18 17:16:53
Ukraine warns of ammunition shortage as Paris launches “defender coalition”
On Thursday, Ukraine warned of a “shortage of ammunition” in its army, in parallel with its supporters in Paris launching the “Defender Alliance” to respond to its needs as the second anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion of the country approaches.
On the ground, the Russian army announced, on Thursday, its control of a village in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, where it has been exerting increasing pressure for weeks.
For its part, the Ukrainian army attacked an oil depot in northern Russia at night using drones, according to what a Ukrainian security source told Agence France-Presse on Thursday.
On the occasion of the launch of the “Defender Alliance” led by France and the United States, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustam Umarov said on the “X” platform that “the ammunition shortage is a real and very urgent problem currently facing our armed forces.” He added: “We must strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities to protect the free world from the Russian threat.”
This coalition is one of the components of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, known as the Ramstein Group, which includes more than 50 countries in several sub-groups, whose tasks range from mine clearance to air defense.
During the meeting, the Ukrainian Defense Minister said via video, after he canceled his visit to the French capital overnight “for security reasons,” that “there is no alternative to modern artillery. We must continue our efforts and increase our production of ammunition.”
French Defense Minister Sebastien Le Cornu said during the launch of the alliance: “I decided to disburse 50 million euros” from the French support fund for Ukraine, “allowing the purchase of twelve Caesar artillery.”
Locorno added, before representatives of 23 countries supporting Ukraine, that France has the capacity to produce another 60 cannons worth approximately 250 million euros, “an amount that seems to me to be within the reach of various allied budgets.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the “X” platform: “I called (French President) Emmanuel Macron to thank France for launching the (artillery) coalition for Ukraine, and its commitment to producing dozens of (Caesar) cannons.”
He added that they also discussed “the need to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense,” which Russia targets with drones almost every night.
Ukraine has entered service with 49 Caesar guns, and is scheduled to receive six more “in the coming weeks,” according to the French Ministry of Defense.
Ukrainian soldiers carry an American automatic grenade launcher during a military exercise amid the Russian attack on Ukraine in the Kiev region, Ukraine, September 27, 2023 (Archyde.com)
Reserves
The European Union has set itself a goal of supplying Ukraine with one million ammunition units by the spring of 2024. However, only 300,000 shells have been delivered so far, according to European parliamentarians.
The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French Senate, Cedric Perrin, confirmed on Wednesday that the Ukrainians are firing between 5,000 and 8,000 shells per day, compared to between 10,000 and 15,000 shells on the Russian side, estimating that “national and European production is very low… does not amount to The level of Ukrainian expectations.
On the French side, Le Cornu stressed, on Thursday, the increase in French ammunition shipments to Ukraine three times, from a thousand units per month to two thousand during the first year of the war, a number expected to rise to three thousand shells as of this January.
The French Minister of Defense told reporters: “We are in the process of replenishing our stock of gunpowder. “We recycle gunpowder on unused munitions.”
Locorno also announced the delivery of about fifty A2SM surface-to-air missiles per month, starting this month and throughout the year. He stressed that these medium-range missiles could be used by “Soviet-type” aircraft such as the MiG and Sukhoi used by Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers fire from a French Cesar howitzer towards Russian positions near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, December 26, 2022 (AP)
Frozen forehead
France gave and sold Ukraine 30 Caesar guns, although Kiev requested six additional guns in the fall.
Denmark also provided 19 Caesar Cannons of the eight-wheeled armored version. The Caesar cannon, mounted on a truck, can fire 155 mm shells at a range of up to 40 kilometers.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed his support for Kiev, whose recent military counterattack did not achieve the desired results. He also announced that he will visit Ukraine next February, for the second time since the start of the war in February 2022.
Macron said that France is “putting the final touches on a security agreement” with Kiev of the type that was concluded on Friday between Britain and Ukraine over a period of ten years, announcing the delivery of about “forty” of “Scalp” missiles.
In addition, on Thursday, Paris denied deploying “mercenaries” in Ukraine, in response to Moscow’s announcement of targeting a building housing “French mercenaries” in Kharkiv (northeast), on Tuesday.
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