France to send 12 additional Caesar howitzers to Ukraine
France said on Tuesday it will send 12 additional Caesar howitzers to Ukraine and has discussed training Ukrainian pilots to fly French fighter jets as part of military assistance to Kyiv in the war with Russsia, News.az reports citing Reuters.
Speaking after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov in Paris, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said France will also send 150 army staff to Poland to train up to 600 Ukrainian soldiers per month there.
Paris has already delivered 18 Caesar howitzers to Kyiv. The additional 12 Caesar Howitzers will be funded by a 200-million-euro ($217 million) fund approved by the French parliament, Lecornu said.
"If these 12 Caesar are possible, it is because Nexter (the manufacturer) has increased production capacity," he added.
On Monday when asked about sending fighter jets to Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron had said at a press conference in the Hague "by definition, nothing is excluded".