After meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in kyiv on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, accompanied by his Defense counterpart Llyod Austin, are organizing a major military meeting in Germany on Tuesday around several allies.
The place of the meeting is in itself highly symbolic since the twenty Ministers of Defense and Chiefs of Staff of partner countries of the United States were thus invited to meet on the American military base of Ramstein, established since 1951 in Germanic lands, i.e. at the height of the Cold War.
Its goal: to significantly increase the military aid of Washington’s allied countries to kyiv at the very moment when the United States decided yesterday to release a new envelope of 700 million dollars (some 653 million euros at the daily rate).
If the meeting impresses by its scale, the organizers have nevertheless taken care not to arrange it in NATO format, in order to avoid any provocation with regard to Moscow. No question, therefore, of bringing together the thirty or so member countries of the Organization.
On the eve of its holding, Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, did not hesitate to declare that “the Americans are throwing oil on the fire”, by increasing their arms deliveries to kyiv.
France represented by the ambassador in Germany
Among the States present today, France will be represented in the person of Anne-Marie Descôtes, the French ambassador in Berlin. Counselor for Europe and the former USSR in Washington from 2005 to 2008, her experience will undoubtedly be very useful. It will be able to count on the presence of the deputy head of French military operations at the general staff.
According to the office of Minister Florence Parly, quoted yesterday by the JDD, the French delegation will inform the allies during this meeting of the efforts already implemented by France to give the Ukrainian army more resources.
In an interview with Ouest-France, on the sidelines of his trip to the Lot last Friday, Emmanuel Macron has already said that France is supplying Ukraine with Milan anti-tank missiles as well as Caesar guns.
Never, until now, the president – now newly elected – had presented French arms deliveries to kyiv in such detail. At the same time, Ukrainian soldiers should go to France for training.
