French Defense Minister Lecornu scheduled a visit to Ukraine in March

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu has announced plans to visit Ukraine in March. During the visit, attention will be paid to the issue of military supplies to Kiev and organization of arms production on its territory, the Le Parisien newspaper reported.

Lecornu announced that he and his counterpart from the Economy Ministry, Eric Lombard, will hold a "military finance event on March 20 to bring together private investors and defense companies to finance our rearmament efforts."

The minister said French companies could cooperate with other industries to organize serial production of products for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).

Separately, the politician mentioned the potential participation of the French company Delair in the supply of guided munitions for the AFU. In his opinion, the production of such ammunition could be organized directly in Ukraine. The head of the defense ministry specified that when discussing the production, attention would be paid to the country's needs, as well as to "what the Ukrainian market will be like in the future".

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On 18 February, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France had no plans to send its troops to Ukraine. According to him, the EU countries are considering how they can "protect" Ukraine in the long term. They are now considering such options as rearming Ukraine, sending experts or military personnel to deploy them in non-conflict zones, as well as organizing a peacekeeping mission in accordance with the UN mandate when the conflict ends.