President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
The meeting focused on France's military assistance to Ukraine, in particular, the priority needs of our country to strengthen its defense capabilities and protect Ukrainian skies.
The parties also discussed practical cooperation with the French Republic to strengthen the capacity of Ukraine's defense forces to launch an effective counteroffensive and liberate the occupied territories.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the President of the French Republic for his leadership and expressed hope that France would support the principled joint decision of the allies to form a "coalition of fighter jets", which Ukraine has been looking forward to for a long time.
The Presidents also discussed cooperation for the effective implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula. The Head of State expressed hope for the involvement of as many countries as possible, particularly those of the Global South, in the Global Peace Summit to be held this year. He thanked Emmanuel Macron for his diplomatic efforts aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine and achieving a just peace based on the Ukrainian Peace Formula.
The parties also discussed France's support for Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic integration. Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the French leader for his consistent support of Ukraine on its path to EU membership and expressed hope that a decision would be made to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU in 2023.
The Head of State also discussed with the French President further steps on Ukraine's path to NATO membership. Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that our country expects specific political decisions of the NATO Summit in Vilnius in response to Ukraine's application for membership in the Alliance.
"We expect the Alliance to make concrete decisions on a clear algorithm of Ukraine's movement towards NATO membership and on guaranteeing the security of our country for the period until membership," the President of Ukraine noted.
