France has announced it will provide air-defense systems to Ukraine and expand a training program for Ukrainian soldiers.
Up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be embedded with military units in France, rotating through for several weeks of combat training, more specialized training in logistics and other needs, and training on equipment being supplied by France, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in an interview published in Le Parisien.
"We are noting the fact that the war, alas, will last," the newspaper quoted the minister as saying. "A new generation of soldiers must also be trained, to last the distance."
France had previously trained Ukrainian artillery troops to use Caesar self-propelled howitzers it has supplied.
The minister said the Crotale air-defense missile batteries that France is preparing to send to Ukraine "will be particularly useful in the fight against drones and against aerial bombardments."
France has 12 of the batteries, the minister said. He didn't specify how many of them will go to Ukraine but said "it will be significant to enable them to defend their skies."
France has supplied 18 Caesar artillery pieces and is in discussions to provide six more. Lecornu said France is also studying a Ukrainian request for rocket-launched ground-strike weaponry.
France also has set up a fund of 100 million euros ($97 million), "which the Ukrainians can use to buy what they want, on condition that the supplier is French," the minster said.
