President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron in Paris on May 14.
The meeting focused on France’s military assistance to Ukraine, the priority needs to strengthen its defence capabilities and protect Ukrainian skies.
The parties also discussed practical cooperation with the French Republic to strengthen the capacity of Ukraine’s defence forces to launch an effective counteroffensive and liberate the occupied territories.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the President of the French Republic for his leadership and expressed hope that France would support the principled joint decision of the allies to form a “coalition of fighter jets”, which Ukraine has been looking forward to for a long time.
The Presidents also discussed cooperation for the effective implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula and France’s support for Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration. Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the French leader for his consistent support of Ukraine on its path to EU membership and expressed hope that a decision would be made to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU in 2023.
The Head of State also discussed with the French President further steps on Ukraine’s path to NATO membership. Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine expects specific political decisions of the NATO Summit in Vilnius in response to Ukraine’s application for membership in the Alliance.
During the meeting the Presidents of Ukraine and the French Republic issued a Joint Declaration reiterating that “France will continue its political, financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine for as long as it takes – individually and through international cooperation within the European Union, NATO, the United Nations and in other formats”.
