Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov has cancelled his planned visit to France on Thursday “for security reasons”, the French Armed Forces Ministry said.
Instead, Umerov and his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu will discuss the launch of an “artillery coalition” aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s military capabilities via video conference on Thursday.
This coalition, led by France and the US, is one component of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG, also known as the Ramstein Group), which brings together more than 50 countries supporting Kyiv.
The 23-nation artillery coalition “aims to coordinate efforts to help Ukraine build an artillery force suitable for the needs of the counter-offensive and its future army, both in the short and long term,” the French Armed Forces Ministry said in an earlier statement.
On Thursday afternoon, Lecornu and Umerov were scheduled to visit the industrial sites of weapons manufacturer Nexter in Bourges, where the Caesar self-propelled howitzers favoured by Kyiv are produced. They were also scheduled to visit missile manufacturer MBDA in Selle-Saint-Denis, a municipality located on the eastern outskirts of Paris.
France will produce 78 Caesar guns for the Ukrainian army this year, and Paris wants to share the cost with its European partners and allies, Lecornu told French newspaper Le Parisien on Thursday. He added:
“There are currently 49 in Ukraine, which have allowed for tactical successes. We plan to produce 78 Caesar cannons in 2024 and we encourage our European partners and allies to share this cost.”
Lecornu told France Inter that since the start of the war in Ukraine, the production time for the cannons has been reduced from 30 to 15 months, allowing for increased production.
