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MILITARY

Sweden and UK strike deal to get more artillery to Ukraine

Sweden on Thursday announced a deal to sell its Archer mobile cannon system to the United Kingdom, allowing London to donate its older AS90 artillery system to Ukraine.

Sweden and UK strike deal to get more artillery to Ukraine
Archer ready for fire mission during the Swedish Army's Trident Juncture exercise in 2018. Photo: Swedish Armed Forces

The Swedish government said in a statement that the UK would purchase 14 Archer units.

Stockholm announced in January it would also be sending the Archer system directly to Ukraine without specifying an amount, and on Thursday it said it would send eight pieces.

The Swedish-developed Archer system is a fully-automated howitzer mounted on an all-terrain vehicle, which allows the gun to be remotely operated by the crew sitting in the armoured cab.

“Artillery such as the Archer, together with armoured vehicles and tanks, increases Ukraine’s defence capability and enables them to retake territory,” Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson said.

Britain said the 14 Archer systems would serve as “an interim replacement for the 32 AS90 artillery systems the UK gifted to the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.

London announced it was sending the AS90 to Ukraine in January. Sweden’s government said it had so far pledged 16.9 billion kronor ($1.6 billion) worth of military support for Ukraine.

In February, Sweden joined a slew of Western nations pledging heavier weapons for Ukraine, by promising “around 10” of its Leopard 2 A5 tanks, as well as the IRIS-T and HAWK anti-air missile systems.

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NATO

France urges Turkey and Hungary to ratify Sweden’s Nato membership

France's foreign minister urged Turkey and Hungary to deliver on their pledges to come through on Sweden's stalled Nato application.

France urges Turkey and Hungary to ratify Sweden's Nato membership

Hungary and Turkey in July lifted their vetoes against Sweden’s entry into the Atlantic alliance, but have been slow to ratify its membership.

“We would like to see Sweden in Nato and we would like to see Turkey and Hungary delivering on what they agreed,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told reporters in Helsinki.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this week said that ratifying Sweden’s Nato bid was not “urgent”, accusing the Nordic country of having challenged the country’s “democratic nature”.

For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated in July that ratification by the Turkish parliament would not take place before October.

KEY POINTS:

For months, Erdogan has been putting pressure on Sweden to take action against the Quran desecrations that have strained relations between the two countries, as well as wanting Sweden to deliver more on combating Kurdish activists Turkey regards as terrorists.

Another issue complicating matters is the fact that the Turkish government wants to buy F16 jets from the US, but the American congress is holding off on approving the sale until Turkey has approved Sweden’s membership, which has led to deadlock.

Finland became Nato’s 31st member country in April, after three decades of military non-alignment and in the midst of the war in Ukraine.

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