Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna arrived this Thursday morning in Odessa, whose region was targeted the same day by a new salvo of Russian missiles, to show Paris' support for Ukraine.
“To Odessa!
To mark France's support for Ukraine's sovereignty, today as yesterday,” the minister tweeted, while two key energy sites in the region were damaged by strikes.
In Odessa!
To mark France's support for the sovereignty of #Ukraine, today as yesterday.
pic.twitter.com/gdxaY60o4h
— Catherine Colonna (@MinColonna) January 26, 2023
“Thank you for your courageous visit,” replied his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kouleba on the same channel, deeming French support “crucial” as the first anniversary of the invasion of his country by Russia approaches.
Welcome to Odesa, @MinColonna.
Thank you for your brave visit.
Looking forward to discussing France's role in the international tank coalition, Grain From Ukraine, and Peace Formula.
The Ukrainian-French partnership remains crucial to ending Russian aggression and restoring peace.
https://t.co/boWWqIiQe3 pic.twitter.com/xbE0vtz4zm
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) January 26, 2023
The French minister had stopped in Moldova on Wednesday evening before going to Odessa on Thursday.
His arrival was delayed due to the new salvo of Russian missiles which killed at least one person in kyiv and caused power outages in several regions.
Catherine Colonna and Dmytro Kouleba will notably “take stock of the immediate and urgent needs of Ukrainians in military and civilian matters”, said a diplomatic source.
"No decision" made on the Leclerc tanks
The purpose of the discussions is to allow the Ukrainians to be supplied with equipment that is "consistent with their needs", specified this same diplomatic source, who added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had "not expressed a need for tanks ( French) Leclerc" for "obvious" reasons, namely logistics, maintenance and inventory issues.
"For any army, having 10 different types of tanks in its forces creates a logistical equation that is almost insoluble," said this source, insisting that the Ukrainians "wanted from the start Leopard 2 tanks. Questioned by LCI on the supply of Leclerc tanks by France, Catherine Colonna declared that no decision "was taken" or "was excluded" for the moment.
Read alsoDelivery of tanks to Ukraine: France under pressure after the green light from Germany and the United States
At the same time, Quai d'Orsay spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre recalled during a press briefing that France was not at war: "We are not at war with Russia and none of our partners is.
(…) The delivery of military equipment within the framework of the exercise of self-defence (…) does not constitute co-belligerence”.
This is the fourth visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Ukraine since the outbreak of war on February 24, 2022. Her presence in Odessa is highly symbolic the day after the inscription by Unesco of the historic center of this famous city on the shores of the Black Sea on the list of world heritage in danger, because of the "threats of destruction" hovering over it.