Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on his fourth visit to France since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
ADVERTISEMENTAfter a welcome ceremony with military honours in Paris on Friday, Zelenskyy was to give a speech to the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament.
Afterwards he was due to meet with a Franco-German defence company that makes some of the artillery guns Ukraine’s military uses but needs more of.
Two agreements are due to be signed between Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron giving €650 million in loans and grants to Ukraine to support its energy and transport infrastructure which have been been targeted by Russian airstrikes.
But Sophia Khatsenkova, Euronews’s correspondent in Paris, says the big question today is: will Macron announce that he is sending French military personnel to train Ukrainian soldiers inside Ukraine?
The Kremlin has already said that Moscow will not refrain from attacking targets, even if foreign personnel are present.
Ukraine is trying to fend off an intense Russian offensive in eastern areas of the country. The push is focused on the Ukrainian border regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, but Ukrainian officials say it could spread as Russia’s bigger army seeks to make its advantage tell.
The offensive is seeking to exploit Kyiv’s shortages of ammunition and troops along the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line.
