PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron will on Thursday hold talks in Paris with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, a day after he met Ukrainian troops that France is training on its territory to fight the Russian invasion, the presidency said.
The meeting from 1300 GMT, during the fifth trip by Zelensky to Paris since the invasion in 2022, will be a new reaffirmation of French support for Kyiv in its fight against Russia’s invasion.
It will come after Macron on Wednesday made a highly unusual visit to a military camp in eastern France, whose precise location was not disclosed, to meet part of a brigade of Ukrainian troops France is training.
The French Army is training on French territory 2,300 soldiers from the brigade, named Anne of Kyiv, after the Kyiv-born princess who married the French 11th century King Henri I.
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“The training is going very well. The Ukrainian soldiers are progressing faster than we thought,” French colonel Paul, who according to convention did not give his last name, told French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov who accompanied Macron.
Macron told the troops: “You have also made a lot of progress through your action and your resistance.”
Of the 4,500 soldiers in the brigade, 2,300 are being trained in France and the other 2,200 in Ukraine.
France will equip it with 128 frontline armoured vehicles, 18 Caesar cannons, “more than 18” AMX-10 vehicles, 20 Milan anti-tank missile posts and 10 large TRM military trucks designed for support missions in difficult terrain.
Macron also announced in June the delivery of an unspecified number of French Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to the Ukrainians. Pilots and mechanics are already being trained on the aircraft that will be transferred.
France has already trained a total of more than 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers in various fields.
The Elysee meanwhile said the talks with Zelensky will be an opportunity for Macron “to reaffirm France’s determination to continue to provide, over the long term and with all of its partners, unwavering support to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.”
Zelensky said he is also due this week to meet the British, German and Italian leaders.
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