Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): Despite Russia's clear warnings about the continuation of Western military and security aid to Ukraine, Paris continues to beat the drum of increasing tensions in this crisis.
French Defense Minister Sebastien LeCorneau said on Saturday evening that the president of the country supported and agreed to his proposal to train a large group of Ukrainian soldiers.
According to Reuters news agency, LeCorneau explained in an interview: "President Macron approved the training program that will welcome 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers in France."
Stating that the current French training program for the Ukrainian army will be bigger, he said: "They will join our units for a few weeks.”Military training for Caesar howitzer self-propelled artillery was already provided to the Ukrainian military, but now there is talk of increasing the scale."
While referring to the 18 Caesar howitzer artillery units that they have sent to Ukraine, the French Defense Minister said that negotiations with Kiev continued to provide six more units to the country, and Paris is also considering sending surface-to-surface missiles.
According to Reuters, Lecurno promised to send short-range Crotel anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, saying: "We are coordinating the number of missiles sent with Ukraine, but this will generally allow them to protect their skies."
He stated that France plans to deliver these anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine within two months, and stated that they will also provide the necessary training to work with these systems to the Ukrainian military.
Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said: "We must explain to the people that we must continue to support Ukraine militarily, economically and diplomatically because it is in our interest."