French President Emmanuel Macron will receive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Thursday, before Zelensky travels to Berlin on Friday to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The Élysée Palace announced this on Wednesday evening.
Zelensky’s separate trips to Paris and Berlin come after a major Ukrainian solidarity summit at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, originally scheduled for Saturday, was canceled.
In Paris, Zelensky will likely seek further military support to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s war of aggression.
Just on Wednesday, France had promised to deliver Mirage fighter jets in the first quarter of 2025. Training is already underway in France for Ukrainian pilots and mechanics for the aircraft.
France supplies Ukraine with fighter jets and trains a brigade
On Wednesday, Macron also visited Ukrainian soldiers in eastern France who are being trained there by French soldiers for a new Ukrainian brigade.
The soldiers are trained with French weapons and vehicles.
In addition to the supply of further weapons, the Ukrainian president is also demanding that Western allies allow him to use long-range weapons against targets on Russian territory.
Since July 2023, France, in close cooperation with Britain, has begun to supply Ukraine with Scalp missiles (known in Britain as Storm Shadow).
However, the range of the Scalp missiles supplied by France to Ukraine is limited to 250 kilometers, which limits their use against targets in Russia.
