Are the first French military instructors about to head to Ukraine? In any case, this is what the chief of staff of the Kiev armies, General Oleksandr Syrsky, revealed on Monday, May 28, following a videoconference meeting with the French Ministry of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu.
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With our correspondent in kyiv, Stéphane Siohan
“ I welcome the initiative of the France to send military instructors to UkraineI have already signed the documents which will allow them to go to our training centers “. This is what Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrsky published Monday at the end of the day on his Telegram channel after a videoconference with the French Minister of Defense, Sebastien Lecornu, before Paris reacted with more caution to the disclosure of this information.
This announcement from kyiv comes just a few days after the visit to Ukraine last week of the chief of staff of the French armies, General Thierry Burkhard, who came to officially renew the support of the French army to his Ukrainian colleagues. We can nevertheless imagine that the discussions between the French high-ranking officer and his Ukrainian counterparts were not limited to a simple exchange of pleasantries, at a time when Paris is strengthening its arms support and playing the ambiguity card. on sending soldiers.
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But it could quite simply be that on this very sensitive issue, the Ukrainian chief of staff has, in some way, denied priority to the French government, more or less voluntarily, as if to create a dynamic effect. Because in recent days, Poland and the Baltic States have also been talking more and more insistently about the possible sending of troops or instructors in the event that Russia continues to progress in Ukraine.
Monday evening, the general staff tempered this announcement in a press release claiming to have just started working on the documents internally, so as not to waste time when the political decision is taken.