After surprising talks between Ukraine’s and French presidents in Paris, France on Sunday pledged additional military aid to Ukraine, including light tanks, armored vehicles, training of soldiers and other aid as Ukrainians prepare for a counter-offensive against Russian forces.
Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Frenchman Emmanuel Macron met for about three hours at the French President’s Elysee Palace – a meeting kept secret until shortly before the Ukrainian leader’s arrival in Paris on a French government plane from Germany and his European trip with several stopovers.
With Ukraine looking to go on the offensive in hopes of retaking Russian-held territories, military aid was high on the agenda. Macron’s office said France would deliver dozens of light tanks and armored vehicles “in the coming weeks,” without giving specific numbers. Other air defense systems were also promised, but again no details were released.
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More Ukrainians are also being prepared for combat, with France looking to train about 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers in France and nearly 4,000 more in Poland this year as part of a broader European effort, Macron’s office said.
In a statement, France described its support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity as “unwavering” and pledged that its political, economic, humanitarian and military assistance would continue “as long as necessary”.
In a tweet marking his arrival, Zelenskyy said: “With each visit, Ukraine’s defense and attack capabilities expand. Relations with Europe are getting stronger and the pressure on Russia is growing.”
France sent a plane to pick up Zelenskyy in Germany, where he met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier Sunday and discussed his country’s planned counter-offensive. Zelenskyy said his goal was the liberation of Russian-held territories within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, not an attack on Russian territory.
France has supplied Ukraine with a range of weapons, including air defense systems, light tanks, howitzers and other weapons, equipment and fuel. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday his country was preparing a counter-offensive aimed at liberating Russian-held territories, rather than attacking Russian territory.
During a press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s goal is to liberate the areas within its internationally recognized borders.
The Washington Post cited previously unreleased documents from a plethora of US intelligence leaks that suggest Zelenskyy has been contemplating seizing territory in Russia that could potentially serve as a bargaining chip for peace talks to end the war Moscow started in February 2022 at odds with Western governments, which have insisted that the weapons they provide cannot be used to attack targets in Russia.
Asked about the report, Zelenskyy said: “We are not attacking Russian territory, we are liberating our own legitimate territory.”
“We have neither the time nor the strength (to attack Russia),” he said, according to an official interpreter. “And we don’t have any weapons left to do it with either.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (r.) and Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelenskyy speak to the media after talks at the Chancellery on May 14, 2023 in Berlin. Sean Gallup/Getty Images
“We are preparing a counterattack on the illegally occupied territories on the basis of our constitutionally established legitimate borders, which are internationally recognized,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s president is visiting allies in search of more weapons to help his country repel Russian invasion and funds to rebuild what was destroyed in more than a year of devastating conflict.
An Air Force jet flew Zelenskyy from Rome to the German capital, where he met with Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday.
It was his first visit to Berlin since the start of the war and came a day after the German government announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.
Thanking Scholz for Germany’s political, financial and military support, Zelenskyy said the country was now second only to the US in providing aid to Ukraine – and joked that he was working to make the country the largest donor close.
“German air defense systems, artillery, tanks and armored personnel carriers save Ukrainian lives and bring us closer to victory. Germany is a reliable ally! Together we bring peace closer!” he wrote on Twitter after the meeting.
Scholz said Berlin has given Kiev around 17 billion euros in bilateral aid so far and can count on more in the future.
“We will support you for as long as necessary,” he said, adding that it was up to Russia to end the war by withdrawing its troops.
After initially being reluctant to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has grown to become one of Ukraine’s largest suppliers of weapons, including Leopard 1 and 2 main battle tanks and the advanced IRIS-T SLM air defense system. Modern Western hardware is believed to be crucial to the success of Ukraine’s planned counter-offensive against Russian troops.
Zelenskyy said one reason for his recent visit to allied capitals was to form a “fighter jet coalition” that would provide Ukraine with the fighter jets it needs to counter Russian air dominance.
Germany has said in the past it does not have the F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine needs, and Scholz responded to questions about possible aircraft deliveries by citing the anti-aircraft system it had supplied to Kiev.
“That’s what we’re concentrating on as Germany now,” he said.
In Ukraine, officials on Sunday denied the country had anything to do with the downing of two Russian helicopters near the border the day before.
In a joint statement after their meeting, Scholz and Zelenskyi said they support efforts to bring those responsible for the atrocities in Ukraine to justice, citing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They also pledged to ensure sanctions against Russia are not circumvented and to explore ways to use frozen Russian assets to pay for damages caused in Ukraine.
Germany said it supports Kiev’s efforts to join the European Union and backs a pledge by NATO members in 2008 to pave the way for Ukraine’s eventual entry into the military alliance.
Zelenskyi met for the first time with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German head of state who was snubbed by Kiev last year, apparently over his previous close ties with Russia, leading to a cooling in diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Germany. Since then, both Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have visited Ukraine.
After meeting Scholz and other senior officials at the Chancellery, the two leaders flew to the western city of Aachen to accept Zelenskyi the International Charlemagne Prize that he and the Ukrainian people had been awarded.
Organizers say the award recognizes that their resistance to the Russian invasion was a defense “not only of their country’s sovereignty and the lives of its citizens, but also of Europe and European values.”
In other developments:
Zelenskyy’s chief adviser Andriy Yermak said Sunday that five civilians were killed in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region when an unexploded Russian shell exploded.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russia launched a “massive” attack on Ukraine using Iranian Shahed explosive drones overnight, injuring more than 30 people.
Eighteen of the 23 drones were shot down, but those that got through and debris from the intercepted drones damaged 50 apartment buildings, private homes and other buildings, the military said, without giving further details.
Russia also fired rockets at the western city of Ternopil and the southern city of Mykolaiv, injuring an unspecified number of civilians.
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