An unexpected visit.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna traveled to kyiv on Tuesday for a visit to support Ukraine in the face of Russia's invasion.
"Hello Ukraine, France is by your side," said the minister on Twitter, accompanying her message with a photograph of her in a square in Kyiv covered with mist in the company of the French ambassador Étienne de Poncins.
Hello Ukraine 🇺🇦, France 🇨🇵 is by your side.
#Kiev
Good morning #Ukraine, it's good to be back.
#Kyiv
Доброго ранку #Україно, я рада повернутися #Київ.
Франція поруч, щоб підтримати Україну.
pic.twitter.com/PoNlKfqqqN
— Catherine Colonna (@MinColonna) September 27, 2022
During this visit, her third to Ukraine since the start of the war, Catherine Colonna is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba and Prosecutor General Andriï Kostine.
She must also visit Hostomel airport, in the kyiv region, which was the subject of fierce fighting at the start of the war.
Russian forces had finally withdrawn from the region at the end of March.
"More than 1,000 tonnes of aid"
“The minister wishes to demonstrate France's solidarity with the Ukrainian people and its full determination to strengthen its support for Ukraine and its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” detailed his ministry in a press release.
Still according to the same source, this visit also aims to highlight "the strengthening of the support provided by France, both in terms of the supply of defense equipment and the fight against impunity and in financial and humanitarian terms". .
Ministry discusses sending humanitarian ship to Ukraine with 'over 1,000 tonnes of aid on board' and efforts to create 'protection zone' around nuclear power plant of Zaporijjia, occupied by Russian forces and the target of multiple bombardments.
To read also "Do you support the accession of your republic to Russia"?
What we know about the "referendums" organized in Ukraine
The visit comes as Russia ends Friday the organization of annexation referendums in four regions of Ukraine under its full or partial control.
These polls have been denounced by kyiv and its allies as "simulacra".
French President Emmanuel Macron called them a "parody" and a "provocation" last week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
