France to provide $211 million in military aid to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets
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France will provide Ukraine with 195 million euros ($211 million) in military aid using the interest accrued from frozen Russian assets, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu told La Tribune in an interview published March 8.
The additional aid "will enable the delivery of 155-mm shells as well as AASM gliding bombs which arm the Ukrainian Mirage 2000s ," Lecornu said.
Lecornu added that France is accelerating the transfer of older equipment to Ukraine, including tanks and armoured vehicles.
In October 2024, Group of Seven (G7) countries came to an agreement that pledged to provide Ukraine with almost $50 billion loan backed by the revenue from foreign Russian assets.
The announcement from France comes just days after the United Kingdom signed an agreement with Kyiv on March 1 to provide Ukraine with a loan worth 2.26 billion pounds ($2.84 billion) backed by frozen Russian assets.
The loan will go towards "purchasing defense equipment according to Ukraine's needs," the U.K. Finance Ministry said.
While Western countries have frozen $300 billion in Russian assets, they can only access the annual income generated by these funds, approximately $3.2 billion. These profits will back the $50-billion loan to Kyiv, while the vast majority of the assets are frozen in European countries.
France, one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters, has taken steps alongside the U.K. in recent months to provide European leadership in supporting Ukraine, amid Kyiv's tumultuous relationship with the Trump administration.
Trump has repeatedly called for European countries to step up to support Ukraine, including providing additional aid funding, lambasting the previous Biden administration for sending too much aid funding to the embattled nation. On March 4, Trump halted military aid shipments to Ukraine following a heated exchange with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on March 2 that a number of European nations, including the U.K. and France, are developing a 'coalition of the willing' that will include "planes in the air and boots on the ground" in an effort to negotiate a successful ceasefire in Ukraine.
Reuters reported on March 6, citing diplomatic sources, that France and the U.K. aim to finalize a peace plan with Ukraine "in days" to present to the United States.
