France agrees to send light tanks to Ukraine

Nato allies deliver increasingly sophisticated weapons while worrying about escalating the conflict

The AMX-10 RC tank, which has been in service since the 1980s, is light and has six wheels, rather than running on tracks. AFP

Light tanks made in France will be sent to Ukraine to help push back Russian forces, the French presidency said on Wednesday.

The move to supply Kyiv with the AMX-10 RC, a light tank that is being phased out in the French army, represents a shift in the country's military support for Ukraine.

“It is the first time that western-designed tanks are supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces,” an aide to France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.

Mr Macron’s office announced the agreement after he spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mr Zelenskyy thanked France “for the decision to transfer light tanks” to Ukraine, along with Bastion armoured personnel carriers.

“Thank you, friend! Your leadership brings our victory closer,” he tweeted.

France has already delivered modern artillery, armoured personnel carriers, anti-aircraft missiles and air-defence systems to Ukraine.

Nato allies have gradually increased military support to Ukraine since February last year, delivering increasingly sophisticated weapons systems while publicly worrying about the risk of escalating the conflict.

It was not immediately clear how many of the French tanks would be sent or when, although training and maintenance is part of the deal.

The French Defence Ministry said the countries' ministers would soon hold talks.

The AMX-10 RC tanks, which have been in service since the 1980s, are light and six-wheeled, rather than on tracks.

• 

  A building burned from a strike as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Bakhmut. Reuters

• 

  Antonina, a refugee from Bakhmut in Donetsk region, with dogs she rescued in Izyum, Kharkiv. AFP

• 

  A resident gives her neighbours hot food brought by volunteers in Izyum. AFP

• 

  A Ukrainian soldier salutes as he works to build a bunker with sand in Bakhmut. Reuters

• 

  Volodymyr Kovalov, 77, carries tree branches attached to his bike as he collects wood for heating and cooking in Kherson region. AFP

• 

  A local resident takes pictures of a destroyed monastery in Dolyna, eastern Ukraine. AFP

• 

  A decoy dummy made with the clothes of a Russian soldier at the entrance of a destroyed cinema in Kamyanka, eastern Ukraine. AFP

• 

  Destroyed houses in the city of Kamyanka. AFP

• 

  Caesar, 50, a Russian who joined the Freedom of Russia Legion to fight on the side of Ukraine, stands in front of a destroyed monastery in Dolyna. AFP

• 

  An employee stands next to a shelter at a stainless pipes plant in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region. AFP

• 

  Ivan and Iryna Kalinin before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Iryna, who was pregnant, was killed in a Russian air strike on Mariupol's maternity hospital. Ivan returned to the occupied city to rebury his wife and baby. AP

• 

  Natalia, 67, sits inside her house that was damaged in a Russian military strike, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Reuters

• 

  Ukrainian soldiers ride in a military vehicle in Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk enclave. AP

• 

  Smoke billows from a building on fire after a Russian attack in Bakhmut. AP

• 

  Sasha and her grandfather stand outside their home in Bakhmut. AP

• 

  Ukrainian soldiers set up a barricade in Bakhmut. AP

• 

  Nastya carries her cat as her mother Anna says goodbye to neighbours with whom they lived for months in a basement during Russian attacks in Soledar, a city in the Donetsk enclave of Ukraine. AP

• 

  Anna and Nastya in the basement during a Russian attack nearby. AP

• 

  A Ukrainian soldier is wheeled on a stretcher at a hospital in the Donetsk enclave. AP

• 

  A woman looks a building damaged by Russian shelling in Kherson. AFP

• 

  Oleksandra Koshkina, 85, sits in a car as she returns to her village of Torske, in the Donetsk enclave. Reuters

• 

  A resident of Bakhmut walks along an empty street. Reuters

• 

  A street market in Bakhmut. Reuters

• 

  A Ukrainian soldier poses for a picture in the Donetsk enclave. Reuters

• 

  Officials tend to a patient on a plane carrying Ukrainian Jewish refugees as they wait to disembark at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. AFP

They were designed for reconnaissance missions and have been used in France's most recent overseas military operations in the Sahel region of West Africa, and in Afghanistan.

They are “very mobile … perhaps old but high-performance”, a French official said.

A presidential aide said the French-made Crotale air defence system was already in action in Ukraine, helping to guard against drones and missiles.

“These systems have arrived and are being used by the Ukrainians and are well received,” the aide said.

Mr Macron has hardened his speech against Russia in recent weeks, and accused President Vladimir Putin of committing war crimes through his “cowardly” and “cynical” attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.

In his New Year's Eve message, the French leader addressed Ukrainians, saying: “We will help you until victory and we will build a fair and durable peace. Count on France and count on Europe.”

In June he said “we must not humiliate Russia”, and in December he called for Moscow to be offered “security guarantees” at the end of the conflict.