The 54th Mechanized Brigade is engaged in active combat surrounding Bakhmut and Slavyansk, and has been for months, meaning that the French troops will almost certainly engage Russian forces directly.

France has said for months that they would only send troops to reinforce the northern border with Belarus so Ukraine could draw the border troops to the front.

This act of desperation means that those reserves most likely don’t exist in any substantial numbers anymore, and there is no point in going through with the original plan.

It’s the beginning of the end.