France to send Ukraine "significant quantities" of armored personnel carriers

French soldiers patrol in an armoured personnel carrier (VAB) in a street of Bangui on December 1, 2013. Paris will host on December 7 a mini-summit on the crisis in strife-torn Central African Republic, with leaders from neighbouring African countries and UN chief Ban Ki-moon due to attend, the French presidency said on November 30, 2013. Lying in the heart of Africa, the Central African Republic has struggled with a series of coups and rebel uprisings since independence in 1960. AFP PHOTO/SIA KAMBOU (Photo credit should read SIA KAMBOU/AFP via Getty Images)

France will send Ukraine “significant quantities” of French-made armored personnel carrier and support vehicles, known as VAB, according to the country’s armed forces minister.

“To move quickly in areas under enemy fire, armies need armored vehicles,” Sébastien Lecornu said in an interview Monday evening in Le Parisien newspaper.
“France will deliver, in significant quantities, transport vehicles of this type, VAB, which are armed.”

The VAB is a wheeled armored personnel carrier and support vehicle. It was developed in the early 1970s by French manufacturers Saviem and Renault and first used in 1976.

The minister did not say when these vehicles would be delivered.

Lecornu added that France was also examining the possibility of delivering to Ukraine French-built anti-ship Exocet missiles.