France’s Macron to travel to Ukraine in Feb to finalise bilateral security deal

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he would head to Ukraine in February to finalise a bilateral security guarantee deal under which Paris would deliver more sophisticated weaponry, including long-range cruise missiles.
The trip comes at a time when political infighting in the U.S. and European Union has held up two major packages of assistance for Ukraine.
Macron said some 40 SCALP long-range missiles and several hundred bombs would be delivered in the coming weeks.
“We are going to deliver a lot more equipment and help Ukraine with what it needs to defend its skies,” Macron told a news conference. “I will go myself to Ukraine in February and finalise these texts.”
France has already delivered about 50 SCALP missiles, which have a range of about 250 km, three times as far as Ukraine’s existing missile capacities.