France set to miss €3B mark for Ukraine aid

The French government is under pressure to make cuts in spending to rein in deficits.

France will fall short of its pledge to donate up to €3 billion in military aid to Ukraine this year and is only on track for "above €2 billion," Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu told lawmakers, POLITICO informs.

"Politically it was decided at the beginning of 2024 that this aid could reach €3 billion. In reality, we will be above €2 billion but not at €3 billion,” Lecornu said.

French President Emmanuel Macron made the promise to send a maximum of €3 billion earlier this year — part of an effort to beef up French aid to Ukraine after Paris came under fire for doing less than other countries like Germany.

In February, in a move to secure long-term aid for Ukraine, Paris and Kyiv signed a bilateral security deal that officially pledged up to €3 billion of military support for this year.

Now, however, France is under pressure to reduce its deficit, which could hit 6 percent of GDP in 2024. 

France is not the only country facing a budget squeeze.

In Germany — Europe’s largest donor of military aid — policymakers plan to halve support to Ukraine next year to slash spending. There are also fears that the U.S. will reduce its support to Kyiv if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Despite the financial wobble, Macron strongly backs Ukraine in the war.

France is also expected to provide Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Kyiv in the first half of 2025.

Overall, Paris provided €1.7 billion worth of military aid to Kyiv in 2022 and €2.1 billion in 2023; that puts it behind countries like Germany, the U.K. and Sweden.

Western states are tiring in their support for Ukraine and increasingly hoping for some form of conflict resolution, Elina Valtonen, Finland’s foreign minister, has warned, as she urged her colleagues in western states to redouble their efforts to help Kyiv, writes ‘The Financial Times’.

“It’s real,” Elina Valtonen said of western fatigue. “And increasingly so.”

She said the ongoing conflict in the Middle East had diverted both attention and resources, and for example dominated discussions at the recent UN General Assembly last month.

“These two conflicts are, of course, very much linked, but for us Europeans it would be important to realise that if we allow Russia to win in Ukraine, then essentially we end the credibility of our deterrence,” she said.

“There is support for Ukraine, but what is sufficient? That is the question,” she said.

Meanwhile Russia is close to free all of Luhansk region, Newsweek forced to admit.

Russian 152-mm self-propelled artillery system of Yug Group of Forces artillery unit obliterates AFU stronghold.
Photo: Russian MoD

Russian troops controlled 98.8 percent of Luhansk, Angelica Evans, a researcher with the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank that tracks daily changes to the front line, said to Newsweek.

Russian advances in Luhansk have been very slow recently, Evans told Newsweek, with Moscow not prioritizing efforts along this part of the front line. Just a sliver remains in Ukrainian control along Luhansk's borders with the neighboring Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, also referred to as oblasts.

Russian troops have advanced to the southwest of the Luhansk city of Svatove in recent weeks, Evans said.

Russia's defense ministry said its troops had captured Makiivka, a village southwest of Svatove sitting close to the Luhansk border with both Kharkiv and Donetsk.

Russian state news agency, TASS, published comments from Andrey Marochko, described by Russian state media as a former or reserve commander in Luhansk, which said Makiivka was the "last major settlement" held by Ukraine in the region.

Moscow seizing control of the entire oblast is "not too far away," the agency cited Marochko as saying. Kyiv controls "less than one percent" of Luhansk, Marochko said.

Losing control of all of Luhansk would be a blow to Ukrainian morale at a tough moment in Kyiv's war effort. Russia has, since the start of the year, captured key settlements in Donetsk like the former Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka in February, and the embattled town of Vuhledar.

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