France to supply armoured combat vehicles to Ukraine

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has promised to supply Ukraine with AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles, a French official said on Wednesday.

“This is the first time that Western-made armoured vehicles are being delivered in support of the Ukrainian army,” the official said after Mr Macron spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, by phone.

Ukraine’s eastern European allies have given it Soviet-era tanks to help fight off Russia’s invasion, but Kyiv has repeatedly called on the West to supply it with more advanced armoured vehicles.

Mr Zelensky thanked Mr Macron for the decision and said the two leaders had “agreed on further cooperation to significantly strengthen our air defence and other defence capabilities”.

The French-made AMX-10 RC is an armoured reconnaissance vehicle with high mobility. It is armed with a 105mm cannon and has a crew of four.

It was not immediately clear how many of the vehicles - which have been in service since the 1980s - would be dispatched or when they would be delivered.

The French defence ministry said the countries’ defence ministers would soon discuss these details.

The tanks are very light and on wheels, and therefore “very mobile”, “perhaps old but high-performance”, an advisor said.

France last year supplied several Caesar howitzers to Ukraine.

Mr Macron in October also said Paris would provide air defence weapons to Ukraine as Russia intensified missile strikes on critical infrastructure.

It came as Joe Biden, the US President, said on Wednesday that sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine was being considered.

“Yes,” Mr Biden said when asked if the option was on the table.

The Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle is still in service with the US military and would be a significant upgrade over Ukraine’s stocks of Soviet-era armoured vehicles.