Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to be received by President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on Friday as part of an official visit to France.
In the morning, Zelensky is first due to meet Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu and then visit the defence company KNDS in Versailles.
The Élysée Palace announced that the company intends to set up a weapons production facility in Ukraine itself to support the country in its defence against Russia.
Zelensky’s other stops on Friday include the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, in the morning, where the Ukrainian president plans to address lawmakers. He is also expected to be received by Mayor Anne Hidalgo at City Hall.
Zelensky arrived in France on Thursday and took part in the commemoration of D-Day, the Allied landings in Normandy 80 years ago during World War II.
Macron announced that during Zelensky’s visit he intended to comment on the issue of a possible deployment of French military trainers to Ukraine.
The possibility of sending Western military trainers to the war zone to provide more effective support to the Ukrainian army, which has come under pressure, has been discussed repeatedly recently. Officially, there are no such training programmes to date.
It remains to be seen whether France will actually decide to take such a step alone or with partners. Back in February, Macron brought up the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine, which he did not want to rule out, sparking a lively debate among the Western NATO allies.
