Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, as part of a European tour aimed at securing more Western support before the presidential election in the United States. His visit comes a day after Macron met Ukrainian troops being trained in France.
The Elysée Palace described the talks with Zelensky as an opportunity for Macron to reaffirm France's determination to continue to provide longterm and "unwavering support" to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.
It's Zelensky's the fifth trip to Paris since the Russian invasion began in February 2022.
The Ukrainian leader says his country needs more aid to counter Russia's advantage in manpower and ammunition. Russia has made several battlefield advances in recent months.
Zelensky also wants clearance to use long-range weapons supplied by allies, including the United States, to strike military targets deep inside Russia.
The talks in Paris 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.
Fast progress
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.
"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.
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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.
Zelensky on Wednesday announced meetings this week with several European leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He is reportedly set to meet new NATO chief Mark Rutte and Pope Francis.
Action plan for peace
In attendance at the "Ukraine-Southeast Europe" summit in Croatia on Wednesday, Zelensky said the European Union must unite the whole continent.
"If Europe is not united today it won't be peaceful, so that integration processes that have begun must reach their result," he said, pleading the case for his country and several Balkan states to be allowed into the bloc.
Zelensky repeatedly mentioned a peace plan prepared by Kyiv that he would like to present at a peace conference expected in November.
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Kyiv has developed an "action plan that can bridge the gap between the current situation and a successful peace summit", he said.
"For us this is a victory plan" and once it is "fully implemented, Russia will lose their ability to threaten us, to threaten Europe".
Zelensky was due to attend an international meeting of more than 50 countries to discuss military support for Ukraine in Germany on Saturday.
But the US military said the meeting at the Ramstein air base was postponed and did not specify a new date.
US President Joe Biden has pulled out of a tour of Europe and Angola because of Hurricane Milton.
(with newswires)
