A key part of Ukraine’s “victory plan” would be a formal invitation to join NATO, which the West has been reluctant to consider until after the war.
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has pledged to support Ukraine’s plan to end the two-and-a-half-year-old war with Russia. He told reporters in Kyiv on Saturday that he would work with Ukrainian officials to gain support from other countries for the proposal.
Presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this weekKyiv’s “victory plan” hopes to force Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine through negotiations.
The proposal is being considered by Ukraine’s Western partners, whose help is vital for Kyiv to resist its neighbor. One key element would be a formal invitation to join NATO, which Western allies have been reluctant to consider before the end of the war.
“A Russian victory would be the consecration of the law of the strongest and would push the international order towards chaos,” declared Mr. Barrot during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha. “This is why our exchanges must allow us to move forward on President Zelensky’s victory plan and to rally the greatest number of countries around this plan.
Since the 2022 invasion, France is one of the strongest military, diplomatic and economic supporters of Ukraine in Europe. It is training and equipping what will become a full new brigade of Ukrainian soldiers for deployment to the front line.
The French president Emmanuel Macron also pushed for Ukraine’s Western allies to change their policieswhich could change the face of the war, allowing Kyiv to strike military bases inside Russia with sophisticated long-range weapons supplied by Western partners, including French missiles.
Long-range strikes are a key part of Mr. Zelensky’s five-point plan, but Kyiv’s allies have been reluctant so far.
Mirage in the Ukrainian sky in 2025
Barrot also announced that France would deliver the first batch of Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine in the first three months of 2025, and that Ukrainian pilots and mechanics would also be trained in piloting and operation. maintenance of these devices.
“By resisting the invader with exceptional courage, you are not only fighting for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but you are also holding a front line that separates Europe from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which separates freedom from oppression,” said the French minister in Kyiv.
Mr. Barrot’s visit coincided with an exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukrainelate Friday night, which included 95 prisoners of war from each side exchanged by both sides in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
Among the 95 Ukrainians were 34 Azov fighters who defended Mariupol and the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like factory in the now-occupied city of Mariupol, where their last stand became a symbol of resistance against the invasion of Moscow.
“Ninety-five of our people are back home. These are the warriors who defended Mariupol and Azovstal, as well as the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, kyiv, Chernihiv and Kherson regions,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X.
The head of the Azov brigade, Denys Prokopenko, said on Facebook that 34 Azov fighters had been repatriated, but Another 900 remained in captivity in Russia.
Maksym Butkevych, a well-known Ukrainian human rights activist and member of the armed forces, was also among the 95 people exchanged. His release was announced by the ZMINA human rights center, the organization he co-founded.
The exchange follows the repatriation of 501 deceased Ukrainian soldiers on Fridayin what appears to be the largest repatriation of the dead since the all-out invasion of Russia in February 2022.
ADVERTISEMENTMost of the soldiers were killed in action in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, mainly around the town of Avdiivka that Russian forces captured in February after a long and grueling battle, the military said. coordination headquarters of Ukraine for the treatment of prisoners of war in a statement.
Russia also received the bodies of 89 of its soldiers, Russian lawmaker Shamsayil Saraliyev told reporters.
Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down 16 Ukrainian drones over the Russian regions of Bryansk, Rostov and Belgorod in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Local social media broadcast footage showing a fire at a factory in the Bryansk region specializing in microelectronics. Russian authorities have not confirmed the attack.
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