By Frank Jordans, PARIS
France pledged additional
military aid for Ukraine on Sunday, including light tanks, armored vehicles,
training for soldiers and other assistance as the Ukrainians gear up for a
counteroffensive against Russian forces, following surprise talks in Paris
between the Ukrainian and French presidents.French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee palace in Paris, Sunday, May 14, 2023.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy
and France’s Emmanuel Macron met for about three hours at the French
presidential Elysee Palace — an encounter kept under wraps until shortly before
the Ukrainian leader’s arrival in Paris from Germany on a French government
jet, extending his multi-stop European tour.
With Ukraine planning to go on
the offensive hoping to retake Russian-occupied territory, military aid was a
top agenda item. Macron’s office said France will supply dozens of light tanks
and armored vehicles “in the weeks ahead,” without giving specific numbers.
Also promised were more air defense systems, but again details weren’t made
public.
More Ukrainians will also be
made battle-ready, with France aiming to train about 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers
in France this year and nearly 4,000 others in Poland as part of a wider
European effort, Macron’s office said.
In a statement, France
described its support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial
integrity as “unwavering” and promised that its political, economic,
humanitarian and military aid will continue “for as long as necessary.”
In a tweet on his arrival,
Zelenskyy said: “With each visit, Ukraine’s defense and offensive capabilities
are expanding. The ties with Europe are getting stronger, and the pressure on
Russia is growing.”
France has supplied Ukraine
with an array of weaponry, include air defense systems, light tanks, howitzers
and other arms and equipment and fuel.
France dispatched a plane to
pick up Zelenskyy in Germany, where he met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier
Sunday and discussed his
country’s planned counteroffensive. Zelenskyy said it will aim to liberate
Russian-occupied areas within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, and
not attack Russian territory.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks past Republican Guards as he arrives at the Elysee palace in Paris
The Washington Post cited
previously undisclosed documents from a trove of U.S. intelligence leaks
suggesting that Zelenskyy has considered trying to capture areas in Russia
proper for possible use as bargaining chips in peace negotiations to end the
war launched by Moscow in February 2022. This would put him at odds with
Western governments that have insisted that weapons they provide must not be
used to attack targets in Russia.
Asked about the report,
Zelenskyy said: “We don’t attack Russian territory, we liberate our own
legitimate territory.”
“We have neither the time nor
the strength (to attack Russia),” he said, according to an official
interpreter. “And we also don’t have weapons to spare, with which we could do
this.”
“We are preparing a
counterattack for the illegally occupied areas based on our constitutionally
defined legitimate borders, which are recognized internationally,” Zelenskyy
said.
Among areas still occupied by
Russia are the Crimean peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine with mainly
Russian-speaking populations.
A Luftwaffe jet flew Zelenskyy
to the German capital from Rome, where he
met Saturday with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.
It was his first visit to
Berlin since the start of the invasion and came a day after the German
government announced a
new package of military aid for Ukraine worth more than 2.7 billion
euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.
Zelenskyy thanked Scholz for
the support, saying Germany is now second only behind the United States in
providing aid to Ukraine — and joked that he is working to make it the biggest
donor.
“German air defense systems,
artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are saving Ukrainian lives and
bringing us closer to victory. Germany is a reliable ally! Together we are
bringing peace closer!” he wrote on Twitter.
Scholz said that Berlin has so
far given Kyiv some 17 billion euros in bilateral aid and that it can expect
more in future.
After initially hesitating to
provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has become one of the biggest
suppliers of arms to Ukraine, including Leopard 1 and 2 battle tanks, and the
sophisticated IRIS-T SLM air defense system. Modern Western hardware is
considered crucial if Ukraine is to succeed in its planned counteroffensive.
In the western German city of
Aachen, Zelenskyy also received the prestigious International Charlemagne
Prize, awarded to him and the people of Ukraine.
In her congratulatory speech, European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen compared the war in Ukraine to the
fall of the Iron Curtain more than 30 years ago.
“Every generation has its
moment when it has to stand up to defend democracy and what it believes in,”
she said. “For us, that moment has come.”
Zelenskyy accused Moscow of
trying to turn back the clock of European history.
“Modern Russia waged war not
just on us, as a free and sovereign state, not just against united Europe as a
global symbol of peace and prosperity,” he said in his acceptance speech. “This
is Russia’s war for the past.”
In other developments:
—Zelenskyy’s chief aide,
Andriy Yermak, said Sunday that five civilians died in Ukraine’s southern
Kherson region when an unexploded Russian shell blew up.
—Overnight, Russia launched a
“massive” attack on Ukraine with Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones, which
wounded more than 30 people, according to the Ukrainian military. Eighteen of
the 23 drones were shot down, but those that got through, and wreckage from
those intercepted, damaged 50 apartment buildings, private homes and other
buildings, the military said without providing further details.
—Russia also hit the western
city of Ternopil and southern city of Mykolaiv with rockets, wounding an
unspecified number of civilians.
—Shelling by Russian forces
killed a 59-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man Sunday in the Chuhuiv district
of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv province, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov
reported on Telegram.
—Russia’s Defense Ministry
said Sunday that Ukrainian forces had killed two of its colonels in the Bakhmut
area.
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