Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to discuss security cooperation and continued support for Ukraine, Ukrinform reported, citing a publication in the Ukrainian leader's Ex.
"I had a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss support for Ukraine," Zelensky said.
The two sides focused their conversation on security cooperation and possible formats of security guarantees for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe.
"We count on French support in the negotiation process for joining the EU," Zelensky noted.
The Ukrainian president thanked France for its firm and unwavering support for Ukraine on its path to peace and achieving a lasting peace.
Zelensky described as a "good proposal on the way to NATO" the option of providing security guarantees to his country, similar to those for Israel, which receives comprehensive financial, political and military assistance from the US and its allies, as becomes clear from an interview with him by Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for the publication "Folio".
The Ukrainian leader added that some countries are not satisfied with the fact that Kiev "is carrying out retaliatory strikes on targets in Russia such as its energy infrastructure and military facilities", which he described as completely fair operations.
He pointed out that these countries even wanted to prohibit Ukraine from carrying out such strikes and asked rhetorically "what security guarantees are these".