French defence minister to visit Ukraine for first time since conflict began

French Minister of Defence and the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu will travel to Ukraine on Wednesday to show France's continued support.

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, center, attends a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in defense ministers format at NATO headquarters in Brussels, on 13 October, 2022. NATO Defense Ministers convened to assess the situation in Ukraine. © AP/Olivier Matthys

"He will notably pay homage to the dead at the Heroes' monument in Kyiv and will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov," the Ministry said without further details.

This is the first visit to Ukraine by the French Minister of Defence since the start of the Russian offensive in February. 

Lecornu, previously the minister for French overseas territories, was named as France's new defence minister in May, taking over from Florence Parly.

French President Emmanuel Macron hosted an international conference on 13 December in support of Ukraine, insisting that it remains ready to provide all its humanitarian and military support to authorities in Kyiv.

• Macron hosts international conference to meet urgent needs of Ukraine
• France creates €100m fund for Ukraine to buy weapons

Macron also said last week that France had recently delivered rocket launchers and Crotale missile batteries to Ukraine and would continue arms deliveries in early 2023.

Among the deliveries envisaged are those of new Caesar guns.

Since the beginning of the conflict in February, France has notably provided 18 Caesar guns of 155 mm with a range of 40 km, mounted on trucks, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles as well as forward armored vehicles.

Paris now plans to supply Kyiv with six to 12 additional Caesar guns, taken from an order for Denmark.

Persevere through 'tough winter'

Meanwhile, on the ground, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted Russian "terror" after shelling left 10 dead and 55 injured in a market in Kherson city on Saturday.

Regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych reported that 55 people were wounded in the attack, with 18 in a serious condition.

The Russian-installed head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said on Telegram that the shelling was "a disgusting provocation" by Ukraine used to blame Russia.

In an address to the nation to mark Christmas Eve, Zelensky urged his compatriots to persevere through a tough winter despite the absence of dead or exiled loved ones, power cuts, destruction and the threat of shelling.

"Tears will be replaced by joy, despair will be followed by hope, and death will be conquered by life," he said.

"We will celebrate our holidays! As always. We will smile and be happy. As always. The difference is one: we will not wait for a miracle, because we create it ourselves."

The UN's human rights chief has warned the campaign has inflicted "extreme hardship" on Ukrainians this winter, and also decried probable war crimes by Russian forces.

The strikes came days after Zelensky travelled to the White House to meet US President Joe Biden and argue for a $44.9-billion emergency military and economic aid package for Ukraine. It was approved by US lawmakers last Friday.

(with wires)