France has created a fund, initially worth €100 million, for Ukraine to directly buy weapons and other materiel it needs in its war against invading Russia, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.
"We are setting up this special, dedicated fund initially with 100 million euros to allow the acquisition of equipment that we have already delivered and that we will continue to do so in terms of weapons, meaning defensive ones," Macron said after an EU summit in Prague.
He added that discussions were being held, particularly with Denmark, to deliver more highly accurate Caesar truck-mounted cannons to Ukraine, on top of the 18 it has already given.
According to French Daily Le Figaro, Macron said that the fund "will make it possible" for Ukraine "to also be able to work with the French defence industry" and that France is "ready to co-finance" purchases of "a total of 6" more Caesar systems.
Earlier on, France was repeatedly criticised over what was perceived as its "lower level of military support" to Ukraine compared with allies, but officials and experts say capacity rather than political will is at the root of the differences.
According to an August ranking by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, France's €233 million of military aid place it 11th in the world, well behind the US (€25 billion), Britain (€4 billion) and Poland (€1.8 billion).
Even neighbouring Germany, historically reluctant with to get too much involved in militairy commitments following World War II, has promised more than four times as much as France.
Such rankings "don't fully reflect reality", the defence ministry told AFP, because they "only take into account what has been promised, not what has actually been delivered".
What's more, some countries might report only arms deliveries as military aid, while others might count in training or the cost of transporting ammunition.
Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu last week made a virtue of Paris' "relative discretion" in aiding Kyiv in an address to MPs, saying that "France has been giving and supporting Ukraine since the beginning".
(with wires)
