French government collapse raises questions over Ukraine support

PARIS (Reuters) - The fall of France's government on Wednesday and the failure to pass a budget could make it difficult for Paris to ramp up its support for Ukraine despite President Emmanuel Macron's repeated promises to help Kyiv for as long as necessary.

France in November completed the training of some 2,000 Ukrainians, including providing armoured vehicles for troop movements and reconnaissance, Caesar howitzers, anti-tank missile units, surface-to-air missiles and battlefield radars.

It also sent new missiles in recent weeks using funds from frozen Russian assets and plans to provide Mirage fighter jets in the first quarter of 2025.

However, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a potential future prime minister, already said in October that France would fall short of a 3 billion euro ($3.16 billion) pledge for 2024 with the figure being above 2 billion euros.

Speaking ahead of a no-confidence vote on Wednesday that saw Michel Barnier's government collapse, Lecornu said there would be an impact on France's support for Ukraine.

"A large part of the Ukrainian support is the transfer of old equipment from the French army that is then replaced with new equipment," Lecornu told Le Parisien newspaper.

"If we slow the order of new equipment then we will have a slowdown of deliveries for Ukraine."

By not passing the 2025 budget, which will in essence mean the 2024 budget will be reconducted next year, the defence budget would not reach its 50 billion euros target and signify a loss for the army of 3.3 billion euros, Lecornu said.

($1 = 0.9498 euro)

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Bill Berkrot)