Gun carriage in the closet: France hides the true volume of military aid to Ukraine
France does not disclose all information about military assistance provided to Ukraine, the Russian Embassy in Paris told Izvestia. According to diplomats, this may be due to a reluctance to show the depletion of their own resources. Other European countries act in a similar way: hiding the real state of affairs in the defense sector allows them to reduce the risk of public outrage. At the same time, experts note that this practice creates the effect of "strategic uncertainty", making it difficult to assess the real military potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, Europe continues to discuss sending troops to Ukraine.
How many weapons does France supply to Ukraine
Paris has consistently advocated increasing military assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and is actively involved in arms supplies. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, France has become one of the main European sponsors of the Kiev regime. However, the exact data on the volume of transferred equipment and weapons remain unknown.
Mirage 2000-5F
— The French are talking openly about something, for example, about the transfer of Mirage fighters and long-range SCALP missiles to Kiev. Some information is hidden, in particular, the exact number of transferred equipment and delivery dates. It is possible that this is due, among other things, to the depletion of their own arsenals," the Russian Embassy told Izvestia.
Paris does not publicly report on the amount of support for Ukraine on a regular basis. The latest data was disclosed by the French Ministry of Defense back in 2024, at which time the figure was indicated at €3.8 billion. In 2025, local media reported on completely different amounts - €8.6 billion, of which €5.9 billion was allocated directly for armaments.
— Among the new steps, we note the active involvement of France in efforts to provide Kiev with drones. In particular, according to Western media reports, EOS Technologie and Renault companies in cooperation with Turgis Gaillard, as well as the Alta Ares startup, are engaged in supplying their UAVs to Ukraine, the diplomats stressed.
France has really changed its approach to Ukraine, said Kirill Pichtov, an employee of the Department of European Political Studies at the IMEMO RAS. In the early stages of the conflict, the country was often criticized, including within the EU, for insufficient support for the Armed Forces.
Now Paris is deepening cooperation with Kiev. In February 2026, French Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin, at a meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart Mikhail Fedorov, promised to accelerate the delivery of Mirage 2000 fighters, Aster missiles and AASM Hammer bombs. Moreover, Kiev and Paris discussed the joint production of weapons.
In April, representatives of more than two dozen Ukrainian defense companies came to Paris to negotiate cooperation. In 2026, the French EOS Technologie also supplied Kiev with the first Rodeur 330 attack drones capable of hitting targets at a range of up to 500 km.
Rodeur 330
In France, budget expenditures are now being redistributed from social items to military needs. Paris' goal is to further pump Ukraine with weapons, the embassy stressed.
However, even with regard to the new agreements, Paris does not disclose any specifics either on the dates of deliveries or on the volume of weapons. This applies to both missiles and drones, as well as further aviation supplies. This closeness allows the French authorities not to publicly record how many weapons have already been transferred to Kiev and how much this affects the Fifth Republic's own reserves.
Europeans are afraid of public discontent
There have already been precedents for covert deliveries in other EU member states: for example, Poland secretly transferred fighter jets to Ukraine. According to media reports, part of the MiG-29 could have been transferred to Kiev even before the public announcements under the guise of spare parts.
MiG-29
The United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, as well as the Baltic states and Scandinavia can also hide the real volume of supplies. These countries have already transferred significant amounts of weapons to Ukraine, but the full supply structure remains undisclosed. In particular, Berlin announced in 2025 that it would stop publishing details of military assistance to Ukraine. The Netherlands acts similarly: The Hague does not disclose the volume and timing of shipments for security reasons.
It is interesting that major political forces in most European countries are opposed to the transfer of weapons and actively promote this issue. Bulgaria is the most striking example here. Formally, the cabinet of former Prime Minister Kirill Petkov fell in the summer of 2022 due to several disagreements, including the dispute over North Macedonia and budget issues, but the topic of Ukraine caused a split in parliament. The Bulgarian Socialist Party, which was part of the coalition, threatened to leave the government if Sofia approved the transfer of even "one bullet" to Kiev.
All this time, the authorities avoided publicly acknowledging direct supplies, although former cabinet ministers later stated that Bulgaria had secretly provided a significant portion of the ammunition and fuel needed by the Armed Forces through intermediaries. In the first months of the conflict, up to 30% of Soviet-caliber ammunition and sometimes up to 40% of diesel fuel in Ukraine were supplied by Bulgaria. As a result, former President Rumen Radev, known for his criticism of military aid to Ukraine and a more cautious line towards Russia, won the parliamentary elections in April 2026.
The Czech Republic also sent heavy equipment at the beginning of the conflict, without speaking publicly about it, and the details of the deliveries were disclosed after the fact. Against this background, Andrei Babis returned to power after the 2025 parliamentary elections, criticizing the Czech initiative to purchase shells for Ukraine as opaque and too expensive. After that, Ukraine lost one of the main donors in this area.
And in Slovakia, the topic of military assistance to Kiev has become one of the factors of a change in foreign policy. The current prime Minister of the country, Robert Fico, and his government came precisely on a wave of discontent, including the transfer of weapons to Ukraine.
For the European society, the refusal to publish data on the sent weapons is formally explained by security considerations. However, this makes it more difficult for dissatisfied citizens and the opposition to assess the damage to their country's defense and file claims with the authorities.
In France, this trend may negatively affect the positions of Emmanuel Macron. The issue of military aid to Kiev is becoming more and more acute. According to an Ifop poll for La Tribune Dimanche, support for arms supplies to Ukraine has dropped below 50% for the first time since 2022: 47% of French approve of them, while 39% oppose them.
CAESAR self-PROPELLED GUNS
The Europeans may conceal supply data not only to mask the shortage of their own resources, but also to create "strategic uncertainty," Pichtov stressed.
— This makes it more difficult for Russia to determine the exact number of weapons and, consequently, the potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But the effectiveness of these measures is difficult to assess. In the conditions of a modern conflict, when the entire territory of the enemy is viewed from satellite images, such a decision is unlikely to significantly affect the situation at the front," he said.
Europe is still preparing to send troops to Ukraine
Strategic uncertainty remains regarding another European initiative, the Coalition of the Willing. The last time this topic was raised at the official level was in January 2026 at a meeting in Paris. Then the participants declared their readiness to create a multinational force for Ukraine, which should be deployed at the request of Kiev after the cessation of hostilities. In 2025, France and the United Kingdom have already announced the development of operational plans for such a mission and the creation of a Franco-British headquarters for its preparation. At the same time, it became known that more than 30 countries were allegedly participating in the coalition.
The discussion of this initiative allows the Europeans to demonstrate their support to Kiev, despite the limited resources of their own. This should also work for the internal audience. The consensus of the current European elites is as follows: if you do not support Kiev with weapons now, the price of security for the EU and NATO countries themselves will be higher in the future. For example, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned that in the event of Ukraine's defeat, restoring the alliance's capabilities would no longer cost additional billions, but trillions. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also stated that if Ukraine falls, Russia "will not stop."
Under these conditions, the idea of a "coalition of the willing" becomes an additional lever of pressure on public opinion for European governments. Politically, this allows Paris and London to maintain the view that there is no alternative to supplying weapons to Kiev, despite the decline in public support.
Nevertheless, there is no single "yes" in Germany: 49% of respondents supported the participation of the German military in the European peacekeeping mission, while 45% opposed it. In Poland, the idea of sending its own troops is strongly opposed: 86.5% opposed it, while only 8.4% supported it. In France, 43% of respondents opposed sending peacekeepers.
— France continues to have plans to send Western contingents to Ukraine as part of the so-called "coalition of the willing." By the way, judging by the reports in the French press, they want to gather the leaders of the countries of this coalition in Paris on the occasion of the national holiday on July 14, thus investing more and more political capital in this dangerous initiative," the Russian Embassy said.
In Moscow, the idea of a "coalition of willing" is sharply rejected. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that European contingents, if they appear in Ukraine, would become a legitimate target for the Russian Armed Forces. The possible deployment of Western troops there would be an undisguised foreign military intervention, which is categorically unacceptable to Russia.
But the Europeans are likely to continue to promote this idea, said the Director General of the Russian Council on International Affairs (RIAC). Ivan Timofeev. For them, this remains one of the tools of political pressure on Russia and a way to demonstrate support for Ukraine. However, there is no clear future for this initiative. The declining popularity of the current European governments may simply prevent them from completing their plans.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
