France can provide defense aid to Ukraine but should scale back financial support, Le Pen says

France cannot continue supporting Ukraine at the current level due to its own financial constraints, the co-leader of the French far-right National Rally (RN) party, Marine Le Pen, said on Sept. 16.

"This is not an act of hostility towards Ukraine. We can continue to train their soldiers, their armies; we can continue to provide them with equipment so they can defend themselves," Le Pen told the French media.

However, France "cannot continue" providing the same financial aid "given the considerable amount we have done so far," the Euroskeptic leader added.

The comments come less than a year before the French presidential election, with surveys putting Le Pen far ahead of any other candidate at 33-34%, making her the most likely successor to pro-European President Emmanuel Macron.

Le Pen argued that France cannot keep spending money abroad while "there isn't a single euro... to index pensions."

Her views echo those of her party's co-leader, Jordan Bardella, who said earlier in September that France should not "abandon" Ukraine completely but cannot continue financing the war-torn country indefinitely and without any guarantees.

The RN has come under criticism from other French parties over its Ukraine policy after Louis Aliot, the RN's vice-president, suggested "turning off the tap" on support for Kyiv.

France has been one of Kyiv's most strategically important allies amid Russia's full-scale war, spearheading pro-Ukrainian initiatives and providing the country with jets, long-range missiles, intelligence support, and other aid.

Macron has also been one of the leading voices in the Coalition of the Willing, a group of over 30 nations coordinating assistance for Ukraine and preparing post-war security guarantees, including a potential deployment of a European-led peacekeeping force.

However, the Kiel Institute's Ukraine Support Tracker says that France lags behind in support provided to Kyiv relative to its economic strength, especially compared to Germany, the Nordics, or the Baltic countries.

As of June 2026, Paris devoted a little over 1% of its GDP to bilateral and EU support for Ukraine, while much less populous countries like Denmark, Estonia, and Lithuania contributed over 3%, Kiel Institute researchers say.

Before Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Le Pen openly expressed her admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said she did not believe Russia's annexation of Crimea was illegal, and her party took a 9-billion-euro loan from a Russian bank in 2014 despite sanctions.

Le Pen and her party sought to cast away their pro-Kremlin rhetoric after 2022, denouncing Russian aggression and praising Ukrainian defenders. At the same time, Le Pen has opposed more decisive support for Kyiv, such as the deployment of French peacekeepers on the ground.

The nationalist leader has made three unsuccessful runs for the French presidency and was thought to have lost the chance for a fourth attempt when she was convicted of embezzling EU funds and banned from running for public office last March.

However, a Paris appeals court in June 2026 shortened the ban, clearing her path for the presidential run.