Why France Delivered Only 90 Missiles From the Air Defense System to Ukraine?
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, eight years after its illegal annexation of Crimea and the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. This situation prompted France to call for an immediate ceasefire while standing in solidarity with the Ukrainians.
The French authority is committed, along with other European Union member states, to imposing sanctions on Russia in order to raise the cost of war and influence the choices of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
These countries are still sending aid to Ukraine, the last of which were France's MMP missiles, but with a symbolic quantity, bringing into question the credibility of these aids showing support for Ukraine.
Only 90 Missiles
The French forces stationed in Romania are currently being supplied with MMP missiles, as well as the Ukrainian army battling the Russian forces. These missiles are also earmarked for export, despite French stocks being lower than planned.
Paris delivered Kyiv medium-range MMP missiles, which are manufactured by the European company MBDA.
However, the French aid was a surprise to the Ukrainians, as the number sent did not exceed a few dozens, which is but a symbolic number for the Ukrainian forces.
The same was for the Mistral MANPADS, where the Ukrainian army received a total of 90 missiles, of which only 45 were successfully launched.
With Ukrainian fighters desperately seeking to receive MMP missiles to face Russian tanks, the product was offered to many potential customers, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Sweden.
Sweden has reportedly received a small batch of the missiles for evaluation, while its manufacturers are already producing a similar model.
Accordingly, Belgium plans to deliver MMPs in 2025 for use in its Jaguar armored vehicles.
According to Intelligence Online, MBDA has produced a total of 1,350 MMP missiles, of which 200 have already been launched, approximately 20 of which are in operations in the African Sahel and the Middle East.
The remainder is used by the French special forces for experimentation, while some of it is devoted to the special unit of the French Foreign Intelligence DGSE.
The French MMP missile program initially sought to produce 2,850 missiles for the French army, but budget cuts brought the number to 1,750 in 2013 and increased to 1,950 again in 2019 following forecasts made before the outbreak of the war in Eastern Europe.
'We Will Do Everything to Stop the War'
Emmanuel Macron arrived on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, in Romania to show support to the French army at a NATO base; he stressed again that France would do everything to end the Ukraine war.
The French president addressed 500 French troops at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base, saying that the French military presence has helped to build a sense of commitment in order to protect Europe.
"It is on the eastern front where we can defend Europe as war is waging once again," he said.
"No one knows what the next weeks and months will give us … we will do everything to continue to stop the Russian war effort to help the Ukrainians and their armies and continue the negotiations."
Macron has located troops and military equipment "on Europe's eastern front in Romania, Estonia, Poland, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to reinforce NATO's deterrent and defensive posture," according to Anadolu Agency.
In the same context, the French president tweeted: "War is a reality in Ukraine. It is at the gates of Romania and threatens our entire continent. At the borders of our European Union, to prevent any attempt at destabilization and aggression against Europe, the commitment of our armed forces is fundamental."
On Thursday, June 16, 2022, four European leaders visited Kyiv to meet with the Ukrainian president and discussed notes on the general remarks
However, the happy moments won't reverse Russia's gains in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict; Europe has already fallen down on military assistance for Ukraine.
In fact, nobody expected many things to come from the visit, but at least nothing appeared to be harmful.
The leaders of Italy, Romania, France, and Germany announced their support for granting Ukraine the European Union candidate status. Emmanuel Macron said that Paris would also send six more Caesar self-propelled howitzers. This news is good but still an "underwhelming contribution from the EU's leading military power," according to WSJ.
A Symbolic Support?
To say whether France is formally supporting Ukraine or not, Zaid al-Azem, France En Arabe website manager, said during his interview with Al-Estiklal, that "when we say there is no generous European aid to the Ukrainian army, this is not true actually; the countries of the European Union, including the countries that are still closer to Russia, provided military support, and this support varies between generosity, moderation, and scarcity, but France, Germany, and Italy are the first countries to support the Ukrainian army with everything they have."
Al-Azem continued to say that "the US Department of Defense said yesterday that the French army will buy CAESAR cannons because all of France's weapons went to Ukraine, and this is evidence that France generously supports the Ukrainian army."
Zaid stressed that there is no doubt whether France is really supporting Ukraine or not, it is a matter of tactics, "some missiles are not handed over to the Ukrainian army because they will lead to a third world war if Ukraine uses them to attack Russia."
"So, France is one of the first countries to generously support the Ukrainian army, but it pursues a balanced policy in military support and armament because it fears a third world war; the policy followed is to support the Ukrainian army with defensive rather than offensive weapons," he concluded.
