France will produce 78 Caesar cannons for kyiv in 2024, announces Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu

France and European countries are not “not up to par” expectations from Ukraine, which urgently needs ammunition, French senators lamented on Wednesday. “National and European production is extremely low, the economy put in place does not live up to expectations” Ukrainians, insisted the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Cédric Perrin (Les Républicains), who went with a delegation to Warsaw and Kiev from December 19 to 21.

The Ukrainians fire between 5,000 and 8,000 times daily (compared to between 10,000 and 15,000 on the Russian side), he explained during a press conference, recalling that France produced 20,000 155 mm shells per year. year, “the equivalent of three or four days of fighting in Ukraine…” Concerning the objective of 1 million munitions promised by spring 2024 by the European Union, only 300,000 shells have been delivered, Mr. Perrin said. “Now is the time to act, now is when Ukraine needs our help”he said.

“Today, the account is not there”even if French aid, including Caesar cannons and long-range Scalp missiles, is “appreciated” in kyiv.

The senator described ” good news “ the announcement made Tuesday evening by French President Emmanuel Macron of the delivery of 40 Scalp and “hundreds of bombs”while warning: “Announcements must be concrete and implemented. As for the hundreds of bombs, if we’re talking about 155 mm shells, about 25,000 are flying a day over Ukraine, so that doesn’t mean anything.. We need to change the scale now on ammunition”he repeated.

“The situation is critical for Ukrainians at the moment”alerted socialist senator Jean-Marc Vayssouze-Faure, for his part, evoking in particular the crucial aspect of the number of men.

In their report, the senators, relying on Ukrainian sources, estimate that 30,000 new Russian soldiers arrive on the front every month. “On the Ukrainian side, the fighters are the same as those who arrived on the front two years ago”during the Russian invasion, he stressed.

The senatorial report, entitled “Why the future of Europe is at stake in Ukraine”, recommends putting the issues of the conflict at the heart of public debate, and increasing the number of munitions production chains to be able to produce “several hundred thousand shells per year”and to develop the presence of French companies in Ukraine to prepare for reconstruction.