France to form a Ukrainian army brigade in 2024

#France plans to form a full-fledged brigade for the #Ukrainian armed forces by training 2,100 Ukrainian servicemen this year and providing them with armament and uniform, France 3 television reports. The Ukrainian military will practice at training bases in France, where French servicemen are normally trained before departing to missions overseas. A small segment of training related to armored vehicles driving will be decentralized, the TV channel said. The training course is designed for two months.

Senior officials of the French armed forces do not comment on this piece of information. The TV channel says the training goal is to prepare a brigade for the Ukrainian army by December 2024. 128 VAB armored personnel carriers, 18 Caesar self-propelled howitzers and 24 light tanks will be handed over to the Ukrainian military. Paris will further hand over military trucks, antitank guided missiles and radars to Kiev in 2024.

Ukraine’s Syrsky approves admission of French instructors to military training centers

Commander-in-Chief of #Ukraine’s armed forces Alexander #Syrsky has signed documents that will allow #French instructors to visit #training centers.

"I welcome France's initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian servicemen. I have already signed documents that will allow the first French instructors to visit our training centers soon and familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel," he wrote on his Telegram channel following online talks with French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also took part in the negotiations.

Syrsky expressed hope that Kiev's other Western partners would join Paris' initiative.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out the possibility of sending Western countries’ ground troops to the zone of the special military operation. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky supported this idea, admitting that he could not publicly ask Western partners to send troops to the country, but would like them to do so and would never refuse.

The chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, said that according to Moscow's sources, this contingent could reach 2,000 men. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that French instructors along with other representatives of military and special services of European countries were already functioning in Ukraine.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the appearance of foreign military contingents in Ukraine would be fraught with extremely negative consequences, including irreparable ones.

[JUST IN] Again, France's Macron doesn’t rule out sending troops to Ukraine if Russia breaks front lines

French President Emmanuel #Macron does not rule out that sending troops to #Ukraine could be considered based on Kiev’s request if Russian forces broke through the front lines. "I’m not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out. We have undoubtedly been too hesitant by defining the limits of our action," he said in an interview with The Economist, when asked if he stood by what he had said about possibly sending ground troops to Ukraine. The French leader pointed out that "many countries <...> understood" Paris’s approach and agreed "that this position was a good thing." - "If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request - which is not the case today - we would legitimately have to ask ourselves this question," Macron noted. "At the #NATO summit in the summer of 2022, we all ruled out the delivery of tanks, deep-strike missiles, aircraft. We are now all in the process of doing this, so it would be wrong to rule out the rest," he added.

Macron said on February 26 that some 20 Western countries taking part in a Paris meeting on further assistance for Kiev had discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. According to Macron, no consensus was reached on the issue but such a possibility cannot be ruled out in the future.

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (#SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin pointed out on March 19 that France was already training troops to be sent to Ukraine.

France preparing for naval warfare, rear-admiral says

The French #Navy is preparing for potential military operations amid growing risks of an armed conflict, Rear Admiral Jacques Mallard, the commander of France’s carrier battle group, said.

The French navy is shifting its training away from a focus on policing operations to gird for war against foes who want "to destroy us," he told Politico. "We now train for other missions, in particular what we call high-intensity warfare," Mallard noted. According to the rear-admiral, Western navies have to adapt to a new environment with "increasingly uninhibited competitors."
Politico writes that France’s carrier battle group is expected to start a mission in the Mediterranean Sea in the coming days. France is the only EU country operating a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, which also carries nuclear weapons, the media outlet notes.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, launched in 1994, was designed to carry up to 40 Rafale fighter jets, as well as several helicopters. The vessel has a length of 261 meters and a displacement of 42,500 tons. The ship has a crew of about 2,000.

Sending Western forces to Ukraine for combat off the table — French Defense Minister

The discussion of the option to send Western troops to Ukraine does not involve sending forces for participation in combat action, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu told BFMTV.

"Various hypotheses were discussed. But we are not talk about troops directly participating in hostilities," he noted.

The minister reminded that French President Emmanuel Macron earlier ruled out France’s involvement in hostilities. "However, we are examining whether we have done everything we could to support Kiev and if there are paths that we can review. One such path is the military presence for demining and training of Ukrainian soldiers on the Ukrainian territory," Lecornu said.

According to the minister, during the February 26 meeting on assistance for Ukraine in Paris, Western states reached a consensus on a number of issues regarding the aid for Kiev. "I will provide a specific example: producing and maintaining weapons on Ukrainian territory. This means presence of French and other European weapon makers," Lecornu said, adding that cyber protection of Ukraine was also discussed.

In #Poland, #NATO exercises Dragon 24 are in full swing, which are part of the large-scale maneuvers of the Steadfast Defender 24 alliance. As part of one of the events, the bloc countries practiced crossing the Vistula.

The training itself took place near the small settlement of Korzheny in the north of the country. During these three days, participants from the U.S.A., Germany, France, Poland and other countries transported 3.5 thousand military personnel and hundreds of armored vehicles.

The sight of Leopards, Abrams, Leclercs and Boxers standing side by side will surely resonate with the Russian audience. Both the crossing near Belogorovka and similar attempts by the AFU indicate that arranging equipment in semi-ceremonial formation, to put it mildly, is not the best option given the current capabilities of reconnaissance and fire strike.

However, at such events, among other things, organizational issues and interaction in managing a multinational group are worked out. All this is happening as part of the general strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank, and there are plenty of the same large rivers in potential conflict zones.

#Ukraine approves plan of cooperation with #NATO for 2024

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has signed a program of Ukrainian-NATO cooperation for 2024, which involves the continued reconfiguring of the country’s armed forces in compliance with the military bloc’s standards as well as the bolstering of the Kiev regime’s cooperation with the alliance, the website of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

The program consists of implementing 50 steps in order to achieve 17 goals which include completing the transformation of the command and management system in accordance with NATO standards, setting up a joint Ukraine-NATO center for analysis, training and education, developing national documents in the field of defense in compliance with the bloc’s standards and introducing changes to the country’s legislation to boost civilian control of the military.

Ukraine applied to join NATO on a fast-track basis in September 2022, and was assured at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius in July 2023 that it would be admitted if the necessary conditions were met. But, no timetable for its admission was given in Brussels.

Chinese military to continue maneuvering around Taiwan, Defense Ministry says

The Chinese military will not stop conducting routine military maneuvers around Taiwan, Defense Ministry Spokesman Wu Qian said at a briefing.

According to him, China’s People’s LIberation Army (PLA) recently carried out a patrol near the island "to further increase the actual level of combat training of troops and enhance their ability to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

"The PLA continues to train troops and make preparations for war, and it will continue to organize related military activities on a regular basis," Wu Qian stated.

The Taiwanese military said on X on January 25 that six vessels and 18 aerial vehicles belonging to the PLA had been detected around the island.

Houthis conducting military mobilization in Yemeni areas they control — group’s leader

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Yemeni rebel group Ansar Allah, has said it is conducting military mobilization in most of the country’s areas under its control.

"Our nation has moved to military mobilization measures in most provinces and the number of conscripts is in the thousands," al-Houthi said in a speech broadcast by Al Masirah television.

He also called on Ansar Allah supporters to continue "combat training, rallies, marches and donating money despite the dire circumstances."

The Houthis have repeatedly said they are ready to join the fighting in the Gaza Strip on the side of Hamas. The Ansar Allah leader has called on Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen, to allow the passage of Houthi ground forces toward the Gaza Strip.

Escalation on the Korean Peninsula: What to Expect from a New Round of Tension

🔻This morning, the news was filled with reports of the military of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea firing over 200 artillery shells in a disputed zone in the Yellow Sea.

▪️ This event quickly made headlines, and discussions about an imminent escalation in the region started spreading online. It is worth noting that clashes between North and South Koreans have occurred in the vicinity of the Pangnen and Yeonpyeong islands in the Yellow Sea before.

▪️ While these islands officially belong to the Republic of Korea, there are disagreements regarding the surrounding waters. Pyongyang does not agree with the UN's demarcation line and regularly claims a larger area.

🔻Today, tensions were further exacerbated as military bases in Kayomori and Cape Changsan joined the fray. In response, Seoul fired twice as many shells (around 400) near North Korean territory. This led to tabloids and media outlets speculating about an impending war between the two countries.

However, amidst the race for sensationalism, everyone seemed to overlook the fact that neither the DPRK nor the ROK military attacked any territories. All shells were fired into the water, causing no harm to the islands. While this action certainly increased tension, it does not warrant a war.

❗️It is worth noting that the escalation with the DPRK was provoked by the ROK Armed Forces' exercises a week prior. The North Koreans responded with a concentrated fire strike, and the South Koreans retaliated in kind. Additionally, it's possible that the ammunition was simply reaching its expiration date and needed to be disposed of.

In essence, the North Korean military engaged in training activities and got rid of surplus ammunition, simultaneously testing the nerves of their neighbors. To further escalate the situation, they began active movements in the demilitarized zone between the two countries, further heightening tension in the region.