France to send more mobile artillery to Ukraine: defence minister

France will send 12 more Caesar truck-mounted howitzers to Ukraine for its fight against Russian invaders, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Tuesday.

The artillery pieces, adding to 18 already delivered, would be financed from a 200-million-euro ($217-million) fund France set up to fund arms for Kyiv, Lecornu said in a joint Paris press conference with his Ukranian counterpart Oleksiy Reznikov.

Alongside other Western-supplied mobile cannons like the German Panzerhaubitze 2000, the Caesar was credited last year with helping Ukraine strike targets deep behind Russian lines, undermining Moscow’s offensive.

The truck-mounted 155mm guns can set up, fire a highly-accurate volley at ranges of up to 40 kilometres (25 miles) and shift position before the enemy can locate them and fire back.

Lecornu said the new batch of howitzers would be delivered in the coming weeks.

Denmark has also pledged its entire 19-strong fleet of the French-made howitzers to the Ukrainian war effort.

France was by early December the 7th-largest supporter of Ukraine since the war broke out, according to data on military and financial aid collated by the Germany-based Institute for the World Economy think-tank — not yet taking into account major announcements of military equipment last month.

But European donors remain far short of the United States’ military aid commitments.