France ready to assist Ukraine with military equipment, says Ukraine Foreign Minister

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, announced on Saturday that France has agreed to deliver military weapons to Kyiv while also excluding Russia from the SWIFT international financial system.

Kuleba spoke by phone with his French colleague, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and pushed the EU to implement the third package of sanctions on Russia as soon as possible.

“Call with my French counterpart @JY LeDrian,” Kuleba stated on Twitter. France supports the exclusion of Russia from SWIFT. I asked the EU to implement the third set of sanctions on Russia as soon as possible. France is also prepared to provide arms and military equipment to assist Ukraine in defending itself.”

In the midst of escalating tensions between Moscow and Kiev, Kuleba talked with his German, Belgian, and Italian counterparts on Friday.

Earlier, Kuleba talked with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, to update him on the latest developments in Russia’s attack against Ukraine.

Notably, Russia started a military operation in the early hours of Thursday after the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested aid to protect themselves from continued strikes by Ukrainian soldiers.

The West has sharply denounced Russia’s military intervention and increased sanctions pressure on Moscow. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US President Joe Biden on Friday to discuss sanctions, defence support, and a “anti-war alliance.”

“Strengthening sanctions, tangible defence support, and the formation of an anti-war alliance were recently discussed with @POTUS.” “Thank you for your great support for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy tweeted.

Furthermore, Biden stated on Friday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will keep a “open door” to European countries that share its principles and may one day seek to join the Alliance. (ANI)