France’s defence minister said Paris would deliver “hundreds” of armoured personnel carriers and anti-aircraft missiles as part a new aid package to Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders.

“To hold such as extensive front line, the Ukrainian army needs for example our VAB vehicles: it’s absolutely essential for troop mobility,” Sebastien Lecornu told La Tribune newspaper in an interview published late Saturday.

France is currently phasing out its VAB fleet — some of them more than 40 years old — with new Griffon armoured vehicles, but Lecornu said the older models were “still operational”.

“We’re talking about hundreds of them for 2024 and early 2025,” he said.