France invites Ukraine's allies, NATO chief for call on March 7
France invites Ukraine's allies, NATO chief for call on March 7
By John Irish
France has invited foreign and defence ministers from Ukraine's main allies and the NATO Secretary General to participate in a video call on Thursday aimed at showing a "united front" and coming up with concrete proposals to boost support for Kyiv.
President Emmanuel Macron faced a backlash from many Western allies after he openly discussed the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine at a Paris-based conference on Ukraine last week.
A follow up conference had been scheduled to take place in Paris with ministers and senior diplomats from some 28 countries, but that was shelved for a video call amid the criticism that the meeting was too rushed.
"The debate that followed reflects only partially the reality of the discussion in Paris and should not overshadow our collective determination to support Ukraine," according to the invitation seen by Reuters.
The invitation, sent to ministers on behalf of France's foreign and defence ministers, is also addressed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Both of them had not been invited on Feb. 26.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will also participate by video call, diplomats said.
The invitation said the meeting would look at ways of speeding up delivery of key capabilities, notably artillery ammunition supply and production, as well as organising a system that would enable partners to improve ways to empty their ammunition stocks and set up new options for medium and long-range missiles.
It also said that "without becoming parties to the conflict ourselves", it would also explore support through cyber defence, mine or ordnance clearance, securing the border with Belarus and coordination of production and maintenance of equipment in Ukraine.
The invite made no mention of sending non-combat troops to Ukraine, something that French officials have suggested could be a possibility.
One other area that would be discussed is support for countries directly threatened by Russia, particularly Ukraine's neighbour Moldova.
Three diplomats said Moldova's President Maia Sandu would be in Paris on Thursday for separate talks with Macron.
This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.
