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The first Scalp long-range missiles, whose delivery French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday, have already arrived in Ukraine, a French military source has announced. “The first missiles were delivered at the same time as our president announced it,” said the source, speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius.

Paris provided no details on the number of missiles that have already been or will be delivered, while its stockpile is estimated at “less than four hundred”, according to the specialist magazine Défense et sécurité internationale. “The number of missiles delivered to Ukraine is quite significant”, but French stocks remain “well above the capabilities [the country] needs”, stressed the source quoted by the magazine.

Their delivery meets the three criteria defined by France for the supply of armaments to Kiev: that they are “useful in the fight” of the Ukrainians, “not ‘escalatory’” vis-à-vis Russia and that they “do not weaken France’s ability to defend itself”.

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