MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. The deliveries of French wheeled tanks to Ukraine can prolong the suffering of the Ukrainian people but it won’t stall the process of achieving the goals of the special military operation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
"Principally, these deliveries cannot and will not be able to change anything in Ukraine. These deliveries can add pain to the Ukrainian people and prolong its sufferings but principally they will be unable to solve anything and disrupt the process of achieving the goals of the special military operation," Peskov said.
As the Kremlin spokesman pointed out, "it hardly makes sense to talk solely about the French decision." "We know that the collective Europe, the North Atlantic alliance and the United States of America have already pumped tens of billions of dollars into Ukraine through arms deliveries," Peskov specified.
Speaking about the deliveries of French tanks, the Kremlin press secretary stressed that Paris was well aware of Moscow’s stance.
The communication between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron was useful in its time, the Kremlin spokesman said.
"As for the relations between Putin and Macron, you know that they maintain contact. There are pauses in the dialogue but at the previous stage, the communication was useful and quite constructive despite all existing disagreements, including profound differences," Peskov said.
Macron held a telephone call with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on January 4, following which the ·lys·e Palace announced France’s intention to deliver light French tanks to the Kiev regime. As the France-Presse news agency reported, citing the French presidential administration, Macron pledged to hand over AMX-10 RC wheeled tanks to Ukraine.
The 17-ton combat vehicle was engineered by the French firm Nexter and produced in 1976-1994. The tank is outfitted with a 105mm cannon and two coaxial 7.62mm machine guns. According to the French Defense Ministry, the 248 combat vehicles in service with the French army have been gradually replaced with new Jaguar armored reconnaissance vehicles since 2020.