Ukraine said Tuesday it had received a multiple rocket launcher system from France, adding to the arsenal of long-range artillery credited with changing dynamics on the battlefield against Russia.
“LRU from France have arrived in Ukraine! The Ukrainian army is now even more powerful,” Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted.
The 4th brother in the Long Hand family, LRU from 🇨🇵, has arrived in 🇺🇦!#UAarmy now is even more powerful for deterring&destroying the enemy.
That is a visible result of friendship between @ZelenskyyUa and @EmmanuelMacron
Thank you to @SebLecornu, the government & people of 🇨🇵! pic.twitter.com/ENcsiOYJw9— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) November 29, 2022
The French-provided LRU is the fourth variety of sophisticated rocket-launcher system (MLRS) — after HIMARS, M270 and MARS II — to be supplied to Ukraine to help Kyiv battle Russia’s invasion.
It has a range of around 70 kilometers (43 miles).
Ukraine, in recent months, has been using the Western-supplied systems to hit command stations and ammunition depots deeper into Russian-controlled territory than its own arsenal would allow.
Kyiv is asking for more long-range weapons to sustain steady progress on the battlefield and air defense systems to avert waves of Russian strikes.
Two weeks ago, French Army Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced the delivery of two French LRU to Ukraine in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche.
Lecornu said France would also send two batteries of Crotale air defense systems and was “looking into a request from Ukraine for radars that are crucial to detect strikes upstream.”
France is also planning to take 2,000 out of the 15,000 soldiers the EU promised to train.
