France to deliver CAESAR artillery guns, shells to Ukraine

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - The top leadership of the French government on Friday broke weeks of strategic silence over military aid to Kyiv and confirmed it has delivered MILAN anti-tank guided missiles and that it will further supply CAESAR artillery howitzers and thousands of shells to Ukraine to fight Russian armed forces.

In an interview with the daily Sud Ouest ahead of the second and final round of the presidential elections on Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron disclosed the delivery of “substantial equipment, from Milan to the CAESAR, including several types of weapons. I think we have to continue on this path.”

Hours after the interview, Defense Minister Florence Parly also confirmed in a tweet that Paris continues to offer military support to Kyiv, with the “delivery of several Caesar artillery guns and thousands of shells.”

The government had until now only announced that military equipment amounting to100 million euros was delivered without revealing the type of equipment.

A BFMTV news report citing officials from the Elysee specified that a few dozen MILAN has been delivered while up to ten CAESARS and thousands of shells will be handed over in the coming days.

The CAESAR is a French-made truck-mounted artillery system while the MILAN is a Franco-German production.

Responding to whether Europe should supply heavy weapons and tanks, Macron said in the interview that each country chooses the type of deliveries but has to guard caution on the “red line.”

“We must help the Ukrainians as much as possible, but we must be careful never to be co-belligerent,” he said.

Macron also described in detail the “ethical weight” of communicating with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin due to his “denial of facts.” But he added that he did not want to let go of this line as it was crucial for Europeans to be around the table to build peace in Europe.

“If we choose out of fatigue not to speak to him anymore, then we leave the responsibility of talking with President Putin to the Turkish President, to the Indian Prime Minister, to the Chinese President. And we decide that it is non-Europeans who will build peace in Europe the next day,” he said.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which started on Feb. 24, has drawn international outrage, with the EU, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.