But above all, the French head of state is trying to draw up European initiatives to ensure that the Old Continent is not crushed by the new Washington-Moscow entente. First and foremost, the Franco-British plan drawn up with the host of Sunday’s meeting, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Emmanuel Macron does not believe in a ceasefire signed between the Americans and Russians, convinced that Vladimir Putin will seek above all to humiliate Ukraine, notably by demilitarizing it. As an alternative, he and Starmer have put on the table a “truce in the air, on the seas and energy infrastructures” that would last a month. Advantage: “We know how to measure it. Today’s front line is the equivalent of the Paris-Budapest line. In the event of a ceasefire, it would be very difficult to check that the front was being respected,” explains the Chairman.
Translated via DeepL
Ukrainians are now very good at fixing their infrastructure and winter is ending. Meanwhile, Russia had to stop exports of petrol because their refineries keep getting bombed. This proposal seems very bad for Ukraine but I guess that’s one way to mask that Ukraine has no access to western air defence missiles anymore.
Why should Ukraine not have access to European made air defence missiles anymore?
So, I am not all that up-to-date on weapons systems – but wouldn’t European missiles chiefly mean the Taurus system that Germany is already not delivering to Ukraine?
They were talking about air defence missiles, e.g. Patriot (US) or IRIS-T (German). The latter hopefully would not be affected by a US embargo.
Yes, Taurus missles, the German equivalent to Storm Shadow, are not in Ukraine (yet?^* )
andbut are used against armoured and high value ground targets.^* Lets see (and hope) if our next chancellor keeps his word.
Things like mid/long range artillery and air defence rely on US targeting systems regardless of where they are made.
The IRIS-T systems do not have any non European components or systems.
https://esut.de/2022/04/meldungen/33501/bodengebundene-luftverteidigung-2/
The same seems to hold for the Taurus missles.
https://esut.de/2024/03/meldungen/48084/taurus-durchsetzungsfaehig-wirkung-ins-feindliche-hinterland-bringen/
Also the Ukrainian PzH-2000 are running their domestic targeting system, not the same as the German and Dutch units.
Also the Gepard FLAK / SPAG are using only European made equipment.
IRIS-T is a short range artillery.
Ukraine never got Taurus.
Ukraine has 28 PzH 2000s total if they were not lost yet. For comparison they lost order of magnitude more of M109s.
The IRIS-T systems in Ukraine are of SLM type, i.e. medium range missiles.
That would mean all of the ~90 units
Mate, I’m saying medium/long range missles rely on American targeting and you’re arguing that it doesn’t affect short/medium range.
Ukraine got more than 90 M109.
According to Wikipedia, Ukraine has got 90 M109 units of different variants in service as of 2024.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M109_howitzer#Current
If you’ve got a better or more accurate source, you’re welcome.
Also, not every unit of an amoured vehicle that has been made inoperable due to a hit by an explosive is really ‘destroyed’ without the option of repair with reasonable amount of work.
Italy alone donated 100+ but their deliveries are not public so we can only track it via sources like Oryx.