PARIS (Dispatches) – Hard-to-find gunpowder is hindering Europe’s scramble to provide hundreds of thousands of shells for Ukraine’s battle against Russia, with solutions only starting to emerge.
“We have all become aware of the need to face up to the scarcity of some components, especially gunpowders,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after a gathering of Kyiv’s allies in Paris.
“Powder is really what’s lacking today,” he added.
Meanwhile, the French government is mulling sending a small military force directly into Ukraine to serve as instructors for Kiev’s Armed Forces and as a “deterrent” to Russia, Le Monde reported, citing its sources.
The newspaper did not disclose the number of French military ‘instructors’ that could potentially be authorized to cross into Ukrainian territory but reported that their ranks could include some “conventional units”.
According to Le Monde, France’s Special Forces were also involved in training Ukrainian soldiers in neighboring Poland and in escorting the nation’s arms deliveries to Kiev. They have, however, always “stopped at the Ukrainian border”, the outlet added.
The training France would like to provide to Ukrainians “on the ground” includes handling air defense systems, Friday’s report said. Kiev’s surface-to-air weapons installations are frequently targeted by Russian forces, it explained, adding that the “presence of French soldiers or [those] of other nations would potentially protect certain areas of the Ukrainian territory”.
The French government allegedly views such a troop deployment as a way of posing a “strategic dilemma” for Moscow, the paper said, adding that it could “constrain” Russia’s targeting and strike capabilities. In particular, it may prove to be “essential” ahead of the arrival of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, scheduled to take place later this year, the French daily added.
So far, France has denied that any of its troops have been present in Ukraine during the conflict, the media outlet said.
However, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has revealed that military officers from the United States, United Kingdom, and France are present in Ukraine rather than only mercenaries from those countries.