With its pledge of light tank deliveries for Ukraine, France is betting Kyiv is capable of using modern Western armoured vehicles to push forward against Russian invaders.

President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that Paris would hand over French-built AMX-10 RC light tanks to Ukraine, a step forward from tank deliveries to date from Ukraine's allies which have mostly been Soviet-era leftovers.

"The decision of President @EmmanuelMacron is another step that will bring our victory closer," Ukrainian's defence ministry wrote on Twitter.

"Especially when the AMX-10 RCs are joined by the American and, we believe, German peers".

France's move is "a strong political signal that Western support is continuing, not running out of steam," said Pierre Haroche, lecturer in international security at Queen Mary University in London.

The AMX-10 is a wheeled reconnaissance tank weighing 25 tonnes and armed with a 105mm cannon, developed during the Cold War "to move quickly and exploit potential breakthroughs" in enemy lines, Haroche said.

"By delivering tanks we're showing that we're backing Ukraine to win, investing in their capability to reconquer territory and not just hold the line."

- Pressure on Germany -

But the AMX-10 is not in the same weight class as the main battle tanks Kyiv has been pushing allies to provide, such as the French-made Leclerc, German Leopard 2 or US Abrams.

President Joe Biden this week said Washington may send Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, armed with lighter weapons than the big beasts but able to transport troops safely to where they are needed and support them once they arrive.

Meanwhile Germany has been especially hesitant, delivering powerful mobile artillery and air defences but fearing an escalation with Moscow if its tanks face off directly against their Russian opposite numbers.

Welcoming France's decision on Wednesday, Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky said, "There is no rational reason why Ukraine has not yet been supplied with Western-style tanks."

"The argument from the chancellor's office that Germany must not go it alone is completely obsolete," agreed Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, head of the defence committee in parliament and a leading member of the FDP, a junior coalition partner to Olaf Scholz's SPD.

Ukraine "must win to defend what are also our freedoms and our values -- and that can't be done without tank support," she added.

Paris' move "will push other partners to breach the taboo of sending heavy armoured vehicles to Ukraine," said Ivan Klyszcz, a researcher at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Estonia.

- 'Heavy attrition' -

Many experts see providing Ukraine with modern tanks as a vital building block in its ability to win against Russia.

"In this war in Ukraine, there's a return to tactical blocking of movement with fire superiority, especially with artillery. That explains the heavy attrition rate for armoured vehicles and the return to fortified positions, the trenches that have blossomed," said Thibault Fouillet, a researcher at France's Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS).

"Even breakthroughs that seem signficiant to us, as in the Kharkiv region, only bring tactical advantages -- the armies advance just a few tens of kilometres -- without making the enemy collapse," he added.

Some experts have questioned how much help the AMX-10 will be to Kyiv given the full range of ex-Soviet heavy armour opposing it.

Modernised Russian tanks like the T-80, T-72 or even the venerable T-62 could make short work of the French vehicles' lighter armour, said Pierre Razoux of the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies (FMES).

"The light tank can get into position very quickly but if it's hit, it's knocked out," Razoux said.

W.House says US, Germany to send Ukraine armored vehicles
Washington (AFP) Jan 5, 2023 - President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed Thursday to send powerfully armed infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, marking a new phrase of Western military support to repel Russia's invasion.

Germany will also follow the United States in sending a state-of-the-art Patriot missile system to Ukraine to help ward off Russian air attacks.

The two leaders said that the United States will supply Bradleys -- which usually come armed with 25 mm autocannon, a 7.62 mm machine-gun and anti-tank missiles -- and Germany will send Marder armored vehicles, with each country offering training.

Biden and Scholz "reaffirmed their unwavering solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia's aggression," a joint statement said.

Biden, speaking afterwards at a cabinet meeting, said that he agreed with Scholz to "increase the support for Ukraine."

"Right now, the war in Ukraine is at a critical point," Biden said. "We have to do everything we can to help the Ukrainians resist Russian aggression."

The Pentagon and State Department said that the armored vehicles would be part of a larger package of military assistance announced over the coming day.

While the armored vehicles being sent are not tanks, the Bradleys provide "a level of firepower and armor that will bring advantages on the battlefield," Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said.

"It's not a tank, but it's a tank killer," Ryder told reporters.

"We're confident that it will aid them on the battlefield," he said.

The United States could train Ukrainian forces on the Patriot system inside the United States.

"We're exploring a variety of options to include potential training here in the US, overseas or a combination of both," Ryder said.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the transfer of armored vehicles was approved due to changing realities in the nearly one-year-old war, where the frontlines now include the eastern Donbas region after Russia failed to seize the capital Kyiv.

The United States is providing Ukrainians with "what they need to defend themselves, based in large part on where the battle is now," Price told reporters.

"Now that we are seeing fronts emerge and intensify in various parts including in the Donbas," Price said, "there are certain systems including these fighting vehicles that the Ukrainians have requested and that we deem are appropriate to provide."

Germany's shipment of a Patriot system follows a similar announcement by the United States two weeks ago during a visit to Washington by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has long pushed for heavier weaponry, including tanks, that would allow it to go on the offensive. Western nations have been reluctant to send them, citing fears of becoming drawn into the war or provoking Russia.

But the Ukrainians have built momentum and Western nations have been expanding the weapons they send them.

The announcement comes a day after France promised to deliver its AMX-10 RC light tanks -- a vehicle that is wheeled rather than tracked but which shares the much heavier cannon typical on a tank.

The French move put Scholz under fresh political pressure to do more to help Ukraine.

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Poland signs deal for Abrams tanks from US
Warsaw (AFP) Jan 4, 2023
The Polish government on Wednesday signed a deal to buy 116 Abrams tanks from the United States as it builds up its army amid the war raging in neighbouring Ukraine. The sale had been approved by the US State Department in December. "We are strengthening the iron fist of the Polish Army... to efficiently deter the aggressor," Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said during a signing ceremony in Warsaw. The defence ministry said the value of the contract was $1.4 billion (1.3 billion eu ... read more