KYIV: The French and British defense ministers visited Kyiv on Thursday to discuss further military assistance to Ukraine to bolster Kyiv’s counter-offensive against Russian troops.
Their trips came ahead of Kyiv’s first Defense Industries Forum, where Ukrainian officials were set to meet representatives from more than 160 defense firms and twenty-six countries.
Grant Shapps, UK Defense Secretary, said that he has been back to Kyiv this week to ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky what he needs to win, western media reported.
French defence minister’s meetings
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu is likely to meet with Zelensky and his new Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Both France and Britain have supplied Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles which the Moscow says can be used to strike Russian territory.
Kyiv has repeatedly asked for more Western arms, including longer-range weapons, to regain occupied territory.
Ukraine launched its counter-offensive in June but has acknowledged slow progress as its military encounters lines of heavily fortified Russian defenses.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who also visited Kyiv on Thursday, said Kyiv was slowly clawing back territory from the Russian military.
He said that every meter that Ukrainian troops regain is a meter that Moscow loses.
