The French Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, said this Wednesday, December 28, during his first trip to kyiv, that he wanted to work to meet Ukrainian military needs. “for the coming weeks”.
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“Presidents (Volodymyr) Zelensky and (Emmanuel) Macron asked (…) to make them proposals for the month of January to redefine an agenda” on French military support, said Sébastien Lecornu during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiï Reznikov.
In 10th place for military support to Ukraine
He indicated that he had exchanges with the Ukrainian minister on the “tactical and strategic situation” on the ground and on “the needs of the Ukrainian army for the coming weeks”. The Minister for the Armed Forces met the Ukrainian President during a working meeting at midday.
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In front of the press, the French minister mentioned “the innovative fund of 200 million euros” which allows Ukraine to buy equipment directly from French industrialists, depending on Ukraine’s priorities to deal with the Russian army.
In mid-December, an international conference in support of Ukraine, organized in Paris, raised more than a billion euros in donations to help the population in particular. A ranking by the Kiel Institute for the World economy in December places France in 10th position, behind the United Kingdom, Poland or Germany, for its military support for kyiv, provided mainly by the United States.
Surface-to-air missiles soon to be delivered
Another topic of discussion between the two leaders: the problem of repairing Western military equipment damaged on the battlefield. “The maintenance of what has already been given to Ukraine is just as important as new equipment”said Sébastien Lecornu.
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“Warfare and Anti-Aircraft Defense”, “artillery systems like the Caesars” (French), the supply of ammunition and armored vehicles, as well as the fight “against Iranian drones” are currently among the priorities of the Ukrainian army, argued Oleksiï Reznikov.
Paris has said it is considering supplying kyiv with more surface-to-air missiles. During the day, Sébastien Lecornu had laid a wreath in front of the “Wall of Heroes”a memorial in kyiv dedicated to soldiers killed on the front lines since 2014.
