French President Francois Hollande reaffirmed on Wednesday following the talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Paris that French-made helicopter carriers cannot be supplied to Russia under the current political circumstances, and promised to refund Moscow for any breach of the contract signed in 2011.
Considerable pressure from EU member states led six months ago to France halting the EUR 1.2 billion contract with Russia for the supply of two Mistral warships, Ukraine Today reports.
According to Hollande, no lethal weapons are to be sent from France to Ukraine, as there have been no requests from the Ukrainian government. The French president also said he believes that a peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine is not necessary to resolve the conflict, as the OSCE has already been helping to ensure the fulfillment of the Minsk peace agreement.
The talks between the two presidents resulted in an agreement that France is to ratify the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine within a month.
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