France's foreign minister pledged support for Ukraine's plan to end the war with Russia and told reporters in kyiv on Saturday that he would work with Ukrainian officials to seek support from other countries for the plan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented this week. kyiv's “Victory Plan” hopes to force Russia to end its occupation of Ukraine through negotiations.
The proposal is being considered by Ukraine's Western partners, whose help is crucial for kyiv to counter its larger neighbor. A key element would be a formal invitation to NATO, which Western supporters were reluctant to consider until after the war.
“A Russian victory would be a compromise with the law of the strong and would throw the international order into chaos,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Parrott said at a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sibiha. “That is why our exchanges must allow President Zelensky's successful plan to advance and mobilize the maximum number of countries around it.”
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, France has been one of Ukraine's staunchest military, diplomatic and economic supporters. An entirely new brigade of European and Ukrainian soldiers is being trained for deployment to the front.
Zelenskyy said Saturday that he hopes the brigade will be in Ukraine by the end of November. “The brigade's training is progressing as planned,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a policy change by Ukraine's Western allies that would change the nature of the war, allowing kyiv to attack military bases inside Russia with sophisticated long-range weapons supplied by Western partners, including missiles. . From France.
Parrot also announced that France would deliver the first batch of Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine in the first three months of 2025, with Ukrainian pilots and mechanics trained to fly and maintain them.
“By resisting the aggressor with exceptional courage, you are not only fighting for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but you are also holding the front line separating Europe from Vladimir Putin's Russia, separating freedom from oppression,” he said. the French minister from kyiv.
Barot's visit coincided with a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine on Friday night, involving 190 prisoners of war exchanged by the two sides under a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
34 Azov fighters out of 95 Ukrainians defended the Mariupol and Azovstal steelworks, a fortress-like plant in the now-occupied city that became a symbol of resistance against Moscow's invasion.
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Zelenskyy posted on X: “Ninety-five of our people have returned home. These were fighters who defended Mariupol and 'Azovstal' and the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kherson.
Denis Prokopenko, head of the Azov brigade, said on Facebook that 34 Azov fighters had been returned, but another 900 were taken to Russian captivity.
Maksym Butkevych, a well-known human rights activist and Ukrainian service member, was among the 95 exchanged. His release was announced by the ZMINA Center for Human Rights, of which he was a co-founder.
The transfer follows the return to Ukraine on Friday of 501 soldiers who have died in combat since the full-scale invasion began.
Most of the soldiers were killed in the operation in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, mainly around the town of Avdiyvka, which Russian forces captured in February after a long and fierce battle, the Coordination Headquarters said in a statement. for the Treatment of Ukrainian Prisoners of War. .
Russia also received the bodies of 89 of its soldiers, Russian parliamentarian Shamsail Saraliev told reporters.
Separately, the Russian defense said it shot down 16 Ukrainian drones early Saturday in the Russian regions of Bryansk, Rostov and Belgorod.
Local social media channels shared images showing a fire at a microelectronics factory in the Bryansk region. Russian officials have not confirmed the attack.
More than 100 Russian drones and missiles were launched over Ukraine overnight, and 98 drones and six guided aerial missiles were detected over the country, the Ukrainian Air Force said. He said he shot down 42 drones and another 46 disappeared from radar. Officials said all four missiles were shot down. They did not mention the fate of the remaining drones or missiles.
