Catherine Colonna herself made the announcement on her Twitter account. The head of French diplomacy arrived in Odessa, in southwestern Ukraine, on Thursday to show support for Paris when the city was hit by a fresh barrage of Russian missiles.
“To Odessa! To mark France’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, today as yesterday,” the foreign minister tweeted, as two key power sites in the region were damaged by strikes.
“Thank you for your courageous visit,” replied his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kouleba, on the same channel, who considered French support “crucial” as the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the country approaches.
Taking stock of Ukraine’s needs
The French minister stopped in Moldova on Wednesday night before going to the port city on Thursday. His arrival was delayed by a fresh barrage of Russian missiles that killed at least one person and caused power outages.
The two ministers, in particular, “will take stock of the immediate and urgent needs of the Ukrainians in military and civil matters,” a diplomatic source said.
It is about supplying the Ukrainians with materials that are “consistent with their needs,” he said, adding that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “had not expressed the need for (French) Leclerc tanks” for “obvious” reasons, namely the Logistics. , maintenance and inventory problems.
“For any army, having 10 different types of tanks in their forces creates a logistical equation that is almost insoluble,” said this source, who insisted that the Ukrainians “wanted from the beginning” the Leopard 2 tanks that Germany finally promised on Wednesday. deliver to Ukraine.
This is Catherine Colonna’s fourth visit to the country since the outbreak of war by Russia on February 24, 2022.
symbolic visit
The visit to Odessa is highly symbolic since the historic center of the famous city on the shores of the Black Sea was inscribed this Wednesday on the UNESCO list of world heritage in danger, due to the “threats of destruction” that hang over it. place.
Odessa is also “the gateway to the further destabilization of Moldova, Romania and the European territory as a whole” which must therefore be absolutely protected, the diplomatic source explained.
Catherine Colonna will also visit a center for refugees in Kherson (south), where several NGOs financially supported by the ministry operate, the source also indicated.
Source: BFM TV
