Kyiv says talks on France sending army instructors to Ukraine are ongoing | EUROtoday

Issued on: 27/05/2024 – 23:00

1 min

Kyiv’s defence ministry made the “clarification” after military chief Oleksandr Syrsky stated that the primary French army instructors would quickly arrive within the war-battered nation.

“As of now, we are still in discussions with France and other countries on this,” Ukraine’s defence ministry stated in an announcement.

It added that it had “begun internal work on the relevant documents on this issue in order not to waste time on coordinating bureaucratic issues when the relevant decision is made.”

Syrsky earlier stated that he had “signed the documents that will allow the first French instructors to visit our training centres soon and get acquainted with their infrastructure and personnel.”

He made the announcement after he and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov took half in a video name with French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

France’s defence ministry stated the problem was being studied however didn’t verify the deployment.

“Training on Ukrainian soil is one of the projects discussed since the conference on support for Ukraine convened by (French President Emmanuel Macron) on February 26,” it stated.

“Like all projects discussed on this occasion, this continues to be the subject of work with the Ukrainians, in particular to understand their exact needs,” it added.

France doesn’t formally have army personnel aiding or coaching Ukrainian forces in Ukraine.

Macron has repeatedly made feedback on potential Western troop deployment to Ukraine, which has been met with fury in Moscow and with unease by France’s Western allies.

(AFP)