France will deliver hundreds of old armoured vehicles and new surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine in its war against Russia, French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Sunday. The announcement came as a Russian cruise missile strike on infrastructure in Ukraine’s western Lviv region killed one man, while another man died in an attack in Ukraine's northeastern region.
In an interview with La Tribune Dimanche, Lecornu said that President Emmanuel Macron, following talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, had asked him to prepare a new aid package, which will include old but still functional French equipment.
"The Ukrainian army needs to defend a very long front line, which requires armoured vehicles; this is absolutely crucial for troop mobility and is part of the Ukrainian requests," he said.
He said France was looking at providing hundreds of VAB (Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé) front-line troop carriers in 2024 and early 2025.
France's army is gradually replacing its thousands of VABs, which first went into operation in the late 1970s, with a new multi-role troop carrier.
The French government is pushing defence companies to ramp up production to meet the needs of its own army and to ensure continued support to Ukraine after more than two years of war with Russia.
Paris will also supply more Aster 30 anti-aircraft missiles for SAMP/T launchers, similar to the US-supplied Patriot air defence systems. "We are also developing remotely operated munitions in a very short timeframe, to deliver them to Ukraine starting this summer," Lecornu told La Tribune newspaper in an interview published Saturday.
Fierce strikes in Lviv, Kharkiv region
Ukraine has been under fierce Russian fire over the past weeks and is suffering ammunition shortages. On Sunday, overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine's Lviv region killed a man, its governor said. Russian cruise missiles targeted critical infrastructure in the western Lviv region and "one man died as a result of the attack", Governor Maksym Kozytsky wrote on Telegram.
There "may still be people under the rubble" that rescuers were combing through, he said, adding that firefighters had extinguished a blaze that broke out at an administrative building damaged in the raid.
In the Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that an air attack killed an 19-year-old man Sunday after a projectile hit a gas station.
National energy operator Ukrenergo said Russia also targeted high-voltage facilities in the south, forcing emergency shutdowns in the Black Sea city of Odesa and nearby areas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his people to endure their third Easter at war.
"There is no night or day when Russian terror does not try to break our lives," Zelensky wrote in an Easter Sunday message to Ukrainians on social media after the air force reported downing nine missiles and nine drones overnight.
"But we defend ourselves, we endure, our spirit does not give up and knows that it is possible to avert death. Life can prevail," he said.
Need for Western aid
Energy consumption restrictions remained in place in Kharkiv and Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rig following earlier Russian attacks, Ukrenergo said on Sunday.
Moscow has intensified strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks, saying it is responding to attacks by Kyiv on Russian border regions.
Kyiv has warned its stocks of munitions are running low, urging in particular Washington to end a political standoff that has frozen a new $60 billion aid package.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
