Twenty-eight countries participated on Thursday in a follow-up meeting devoted to support for Ukraine, organized by France with the objective of doing more and better to defeat Russia.
Ukraine, several member states of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada were represented at this ministerial meeting by videoconference, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces said in a press release on Thursday evening.
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The meeting lasted almost three hours, we learned from two European diplomatic sources.
There is a
“collective burst and a feeling of urgency that we must do more, do better, do differently for Ukraine
,” explained a French diplomatic source shortly before the start of the videoconference.
This meeting followed the international meeting in support of Ukraine which took place in Paris on February 26, at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The countries worked on eight projects on Thursday: increasing munitions deliveries to Ukraine, destocking principles, cyber defense, protection of Ukraine's border with Belarus, protection of vulnerable states, demining, industrial production in Ukraine and the
“9th coalition”
on strikes behind the front line, the press release specifies.
The establishment of “working groups”
This meeting was an opportunity
“for each country to position itself on each of the projects”
and
“to establish a timetable”
.
“The first working groups at technical level will be held again within seven days;
working meetings could be held at ministerial level during April
,” adds the press release.
Among the participants, the Ukrainian Ministers of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kouleba and Defense Roustem Oumerov, the head of Polish diplomacy, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO Mircea Geoana, the Italian Minister of Defense while Germany was represented by a Secretary of State, according to the press release.
“It is a working meeting which is part of the dynamic created by the conference of February 26 to operationalize these subjects
,” said earlier the French diplomatic source who had suggested that there would be no communication given its confidential nature and for security reasons.
Another diplomatic source, however, recognized the necessary educational work to be carried out among public opinion in Western countries so as not to lose their support at a time when Russia is accused of disinformation targeting France in particular.
“There is very important explanatory work to be done on the consequences that this (the war in Ukraine and a potential defeat of Kiev, editor's note) causes in terms of security, consequences in terms of the agricultural market, migratory consequences and others
,” explained the same source, estimating that public opinion was at
“a tipping point
. ”
In an article published in the newspaper
Le Monde
on Thursday, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy recalled that
“Ukraine has never requested the sending of foreign troops to fight alongside it”
.
But he deplored
“the multiple hasty declarations to rule out the scenario of sending troops to Ukraine”
which, according to him, are a blow to European security.
“Make no mistake: Putin felt that the war inspired a primal fear in Europeans and he took note of it
,” he noted.
Paris insists on the need to increase the pace
Paris has been insisting for months on the need to redouble its efforts regarding support for Ukraine to defeat Russia.
During the meeting on February 26, Emmanuel Macron sparked intense controversy among the allied countries by refusing to exclude the option of sending Western soldiers to Ukraine in the future.
In France too, support for Kiev, desired without
“any limit”
by the president, irritates the opposition which denounces an
“irresponsible”
posture .
In addition to Ukraine, Paris intends to support the countries of Central and Eastern Europe weakened by this conflict.
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné will travel to Lithuania on Friday, to Vilnius, for a meeting with his counterparts from the Baltic countries as well as with Dmytro Kouleba.
“All European capitals must understand this simple and hard truth at the same time, which we already seem to have understood in Paris: either our allies (...) fully help the Ukrainian soldiers in their battles to defend cities and villages of Ukraine, or, one day, it will be the turn of your soldiers to sacrifice their lives in battles to defend the cities and villages of the countries of Central Europe first and the rest of Europe later
, ”
estimated Mr. Kouleba in his column.
Last week, Berlin categorically ruled out sending soldiers to Ukrainian soil.