Paris is open to the idea of immediately inviting Ukraine to NATO, but negotiations with allies on this issue will continue, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said during his visit to Kyiv.
Barro held talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday, October 19. Both ministers took up their posts recently, in September 2024.
The Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty, citing a joint press conference between Barro and Sibiga, quoted the French diplomat as saying that his country supports Ukraine’s Plan to Win the War with Russia and that Paris is ready to continue helping Kyiv. “France supports the Ukrainian plan not only in the military sphere, but is also ready to provide support in the civil and economic sectors,” the publication says. At the same time, Barrot’s statement that “France will support Ukraine when it decides to start negotiations on peace” is cited.
At the press conference, the Ukrainian and French foreign ministers also said that bringing in regular North Korean troops to support the Russian invasion would be a serious escalation of the war. The other day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Pyongyang of preparing to send 10,000 North Korean soldiers to help Moscow.
The French minister is scheduled to travel to eastern Ukraine on Sunday, where Paris has promised financial aid to two new centers to protect children affected by the war, Reuters noted.
