To date, France has provided Ukraine with military aid worth more than €3.2 billion ($3.51 billion), including 30 Caesar self-propelled howitzers, light tanks, armored personnel carriers, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as several dozen Storm Shadow long-range missiles and other weapons.
However, speaking on France Info radio recently, the French ambassador to Kyiv, Gael Veyssiere, said that President Emmanuel Macron's government intends to continue its strategy of supporting Ukraine, but Paris intends to promote Ukraine's military industry, rather than continuing to send equipment to the Eastern European country through donations or sales.
Accordingly, 2024 will be “the year when arms production in Ukraine must increase and when Ukraine must increasingly be able to rely on its own resources, produced on its own territory.” The French ambassador's statement is believed to be similar to the position Washington has adopted for months, as the US and its allies have exhausted their arsenals that they can send to Ukraine. According to Politico, the Washington administration intends to restore Ukraine's military-industrial complex as soon as possible so that Kyiv can produce the necessary weapons itself.
Meanwhile, on January 4th, Lieutenant General Sergiy Nayev, Commander of the Combined Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who commands mobile air defense units in Kyiv and northern Ukraine, stated that the country's mobile air defense forces only have enough ammunition to withstand a few more major attacks.
This new development comes as the Ukrainian Finance Ministry recently released figures showing that the country's annual budget deficit reached 1.33 trillion hryvnia (US$35 billion) in 2023, a 46% increase compared to the previous year. Ukraine has been heavily reliant on Western economic assistance and faces uncertainty regarding funding in 2024.
The government anticipates a budget deficit of approximately $43 billion in 2024 and plans to cover this deficit through domestic borrowing and financial assistance from Western partners.
KHANH HUNG
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