France will not fulfill its promise of €3 bln in aid to Ukraine in 2024

France will not be able to provide €3 billion in aid to Ukraine in 2024, as previously promised. The reason is the budget deficit.

This was stated by French Defense Minister Sébastien Le Coronneu, RBC-Ukraine reports citing Politico.

“In early 2024, there was a political decision that this aid could reach 3 billion euros. In fact, it will be more than 2 billion euros, but not 3 billion euros,” Lecornu said.

The decision to allocate up to 3 billion euros to help Ukraine in 2024 was enshrined in the bilateral security agreement between Kyiv and Paris, which Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron signed in February.

But, according to Politico, France was forced to cut spending on aid to Ukraine, as the budget deficit for 2024 could reach about 6% of the country's GDP.

The French defense minister said that no additional spending on aid to Ukraine would be requested from the parliament by the end of the year. About 300 million euros of military aid will be provided at the expense of frozen Russian assets - these funds will be used to purchase 155-mm artillery shells, Caesar self-propelled artillery systems and fuel.

At the same time, 400 to 600 million euros will be received by reducing inflation and will be used to modernize SCALP and Aster missiles for Ukraine.

Author - Dmitriy Levchenko, 16/10/2024