French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebastien Lecornu, announced on Thursday that France has ordered 2,000 aerial drones from the French military company Delair, with plans to send 100 of them to Ukraine in the upcoming summer.
In a statement made on the “X” platform, Lecornu said, “Through an innovative program, France has ordered 100 aerial drones from Delair, which will be dispatched to Ukraine this summer.”
The French Minister further stated, “In total, 2,000 units of remotely controlled drone ammunition will be ordered from our defense industry to meet the needs of our armies and the Ukrainian forces.”
In a related context, French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the possibility of deploying forces from European Union countries and NATO in Ukraine during a conference on supporting Ukraine held in Paris on February 26.
Later, Minister Lecornu clarified Macron’s statements, indicating that European leaders discussed various opportunities to enhance support for Kyiv at a conference in Paris, adding, “You can say that we are not ruling anything out, neither weakness nor escalation.”
Last Tuesday, President Macron stated that sending Western troops to Ukraine in the future should not be “ruled out,” although there is currently no consensus on this step.
American media outlets have expressed skepticism about the French President’s idea, questioning its effectiveness and warning that it could lead to the largest ground conflict in Europe since World War II.
Moscow criticized the idea, describing it as an attempt to ignite a global conflict between Russia and the West. Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for the Russian President, stated that deploying NATO forces to Kyiv would provoke a direct conflict between the alliance and Russia, leading to an escalation of the situation.
Peskov also warned that the presence of NATO forces in Ukraine would turn the possibility of a conflict between Russia and NATO from “potential” to “inevitable.”
