Ukraine arms influx: Long-range missile from France and more military aid from Norway

France has committed to providing long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine to help Kiev strike Russian forces "deeply" while Norway also intends to boost its military aid to the ex-Soviet republic amid the ongoing NATO summit.

On Tuesday and on the first day of the two-day NATO summit in Lithuania, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris would provide Ukraine with SCALP long-range cruise missiles to help Kiev's forces hit Russian troops and supplies deep behind the front lines.

"I have decided to increase deliveries of weapons and equipment to enable the Ukrainians to have the capacity to strike deeply," the French leader said while declining to say how many missiles would be delivered.

Citing an unnamed French diplomatic source, Reuters reported that Paris would send about 50 SCALP missiles produced by European manufacturer MBDA.

Separately, a French military source, cited by Reuters, said in a briefing at the NATO summit that the missiles would come from existing French military stocks and that it would be a "significant number." The source further said that Paris has already started delivering the SCALP cruise missiles to Ukraine.

The SCALP missiles, which will be integrated into Ukrainian Russian-made warplanes, have a range of about 250 kilometers, three times as far as Ukraine's existing missile capacities. The source added that these missiles would only be used within Ukraine’s internationally-recognized borders.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Macron stressed that the delivery of such missiles would adhere to France's policy of helping Ukraine to defend its territory. He was implying that Ukraine had given assurances to France that the missiles would not be fired into Russia.

Back in May, the United Kingdom said that it was supplying the Franco-British missile, produced by MBDA, that it calls the Storm Shadow. The French version is known as SCALP.

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Previously, France sent Mistral shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, as well as Crotale short-range anti-air missiles, which can be used against low-flying missiles and aircraft.

France's move to send long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine drew Russia's rebuke, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov slamming it as a "mistake."

"From our point of view, this decision is a mistake with consequences for the Ukrainian side, because this will, of course force us to take countermeasures," he said on Tuesday. 

Separately on Tuesday, Norway said that it was pledging an additional 2.5 billion kroner ($240 million) of military assistance to Ukraine. The move will bring Oslo's military aid to Kiev to a  total of 10 billion kroner for the current year.

"The defensive war being waged by Ukraine (...) is being waged now. It is now that is really necessary," Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Gahr Store told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius.

Norway will this year allocate 10 billion kroner to military aid and 7.5 billion to civilian support, rather than the 7.5 billion initially planned for each.

Furthermore, Oslo has already donated other armored vehicles, multiple rocket launcher systems and artillery shells to Kiev.

Despite Russia's repeated warnings that the Western military aid will only prolong the war, the US and European countries have continued to supply Ukraine with weapons.

Since the start of the war, they have given Ukraine tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons, including rocket systems, drones, armored vehicles, tanks, and communication systems.

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