“The path to negotiations will undoubtedly go through better results on the ground,” said Catherine Colonna.

“The path to negotiations will undoubtedly go through better results on the ground” in Ukraine, estimates the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna, Thursday, May 4 on France Inter. To enable Ukraine to “Find a better position on the pitch”in the context of the offensive led by Russia for more than a year, Catherine Colonna considers that France must continue to help “on a humanitarian or economic level”.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs assures us that France has for the moment “focused on delivering what is useful”to know “long-range Caesar guns”, “anti-aircraft defense devices, ammunition, forward armored vehicles”. “Everything we promised, we delivered, on time”, she boasts. Catherine Colonna also specifies that Paris is currently working “on a new aid package”without giving further details.

“We must continue to help Ukraine defend itself”

Catherine Colonna also ensures that “France supports the plan” presented on Wednesday by the European Commission to strengthen the European Union’s ammunition production capacity. “It is necessary today to increase this production to further help Ukraine and deliver the ammunition it needs to defend itself and carry out a counter-offensive”, says the Minister. This financial instrument for strengthening the production capacities of European industry is endowed with 500 million euros. This is the third part of a comprehensive action plan approved at the end of March by the EU. The other two parts consist of “assist in the rapid delivery of ammunition to Ukraine” and the establishment of a “joint purchasing mechanism in order to do things faster”.

“We must continue to help Ukraine to defend itself and to conduct a counter-offensive so that it regains ground, restores a more favorable balance of power and perhaps can hope for the return of Russia to the trading desks”, says Catherine Colonna. She believes that “Russian aggression must be defeated” because “if an aggression should be rewarded” the risk for the minister is that this “reproduce elsewhere”. Faced with this risk, Catherine Colonna considers that what is at stake behind the war in Ukraine is certainly “the fate of Ukrainians, but also the stability of the European continent and our ability to live in a world where the rules are respected”. In this context, Europe is indeed defending its “values ​​in defending Ukraine” And “if we have to help him defend himself, which is a legitimate right, we have to do it”she insists.