Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba. File photoMOSCOW, Sept 11Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged France to increase the supply of military aid due to the lack of weapons.»We are very grateful to France for the provided equipment, as well as for supporting our candidacy for EU membership … We ask France to do more in this matter (military assistance — ed.),» Kuleba said in an interview with the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche, adding that, despite the supply of weapons to Kyiv from other countries, the Russian Armed Forces outnumber Ukrainian troops in terms of heavy weapons. When asked about the negotiations, he replied that any crisis «ends with diplomacy», but Kyiv wants to be «in the position of a winner.» On Thursday, the Opinion newspaper reported that France would supply Ukraine with 155 mm TRF1 self-propelled guns, which are no longer used by the French army. Earlier, Paris has already handed over to the Ukrainian side 18 self-propelled artillery mounts CAESAR with a caliber of 155 millimeters, taking them from the reserve of the ground forces. This accounted for a quarter of the total number of such installations.
Lavrov said that Russia does not refuse negotiations with UkraineIn June, after a visit to Kyiv, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons. Russia sent a note to NATO countries because of the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.
