 France promises hundreds of old armoured vehicles and new batch of Aster-30 missiles to Ukraine. France will supply Ukraine with additional surface-to-air missiles and hundreds of armoured vehicles from storage. Defence Minister Sébastien Le Corneau has announced the deliveries are set to begin this summer and continue over the next two years. Speaking to the newspaper La Tribune Dimanche, Le Corneau said he had been instructed by French President Emmanuel Macron to come up with a new aid package to help Kiev's war effort against Russia. He noted that the supplies will include equipment that was previously used by the French army but is still functional as well as a new batch of Aster-30 missiles that are designed to intercept drones and cruise missiles with a range of 120 kilometres to hold such a long front line the Ukrainian army needs, for example, our armoured vehicles. This is absolutely key for troop mobility and is part of Ukraine's requests. The Minister said we're talking in the hundreds for 2024 and early 2025. He clarified when asked about the timeframe adding that he had asked the Government Defence Procurement Agency to accelerate the production of Aster missiles. The French military is currently seeking to replace thousands of VAB armoured personnel carriers which first entered service some 45 years ago with newer types of APC. In February Macron signed a new security pact with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, pledging 3 billion euros in military aid to Kiev for the year 2024 alone. However, the bilateral security agreement has turned into a budgetary and political headache for the government and it is extremely unclear how the promise will materialise given public resistance to spending cuts and further aid to Kiev. The French publication Le Monde reported last week. The paper suggested that in order to provide 3 billion euros, the French authorities would have to play with the paperwork or inflate the value of used equipment donated to Kiev. Macron has previously stated that the West will do anything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war.