French politician on supplying weapons to Kiev: 'Total madness'
A far-right French politician criticizes France's weapon supplies to Ukraine at the expense of depleting the French army's stocks.
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French politician on supplying weapons to Kiev: 'Total madness'
Florian Philippot, the leader of the far-right movement The Patriots, described on Saturday France's continuation in supplying weapons to Ukraine at a time when the French army lacks weapons as "total madness".
"Military stocks have generally disappeared...!" But we continue to send weapons and ammunition to Zelensky! Let's stop this total madness!" Philippot wrote on Twitter.
Armée française :
— Florian Philippot (@f_philippot) December 10, 2022
« Les stocks militaires ont globalement disparu...» !
Mais on continue d’envoyer armes et munitions à Zelensky ! 🤦
Arrêtons cette folie totale ! https://t.co/YatLTL33aP
The European Council announced on Saturday that it was approving a package of documents allowing the European Union to provide Ukraine with $18.9 billion of credit support in 2023.
In early December, US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron pledged after their meeting in Washington to close ranks in helping Ukraine "defend itself from Russia."
The two presidents reaffirmed support for Ukraine and the provision of all forms of assistance to Ukraine "for as long as it takes."
As a matter of fact, Macron pledged more support for Ukraine and vowed to not push Kiev into any peace talks with Russia that it does not agree with.
Just last month, France sent two batteries of Crotale anti-aircraft missile systems to the forces of the Kiev regime.
In mid-October, France and Ukraine signed an agreement over security and defense grants. The deal is meant to assist Ukraine's forces in boosting its military capabilities against Russia and set an initial aid amount of €100 million.
In the same context, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Macron has agreed to train up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers in the country, adding that France had already delivered 18 Caesar howitzers to Ukraine and that talks were underway to send six more.
Bloomberg reported that many European countries are suffering from a shortage in their stocks of ammunition and weapons due to the large supplies to Ukraine.
Since February, European states have sent billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine without almost any restraint, depleting their stockpiles.
NATO and European states have recently felt the heat, ramping up their military spending to match their demands.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell considered on Thursday that the war in Ukraine has depleted the EU's weapon stockpiles, showing that it lacks "critical" capabilities to protect against threats on its border.
In May, Borrell had also announced the bloc had depleted its military hardware helping Ukraine and urged member states to bolster their defense capabilities.
Read more: French soldiers in Romania live in terrible conditions - Le Figaro
