France has been negotiating with Ukraine on minerals since October - minister
Kyiv • UNN
The French Armed Forces Minister has reported talks with Ukraine on the development of minerals for the defense industry. The talks started in October after Zelenskyy's visit to Paris.
France has been negotiating with Ukraine on Ukrainian minerals since the fall, said French Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu said on franceinfo on Thursday, February 27, writes UNN.
Details
France has been in talks with Ukraine "since October" to develop Ukrainian minerals for its "defense industry," Lecornu said.
Lecornu explained that France had been working on this topic for several months already, since "last fall", when Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Paris "included the issue of raw materials in his plan for victory". The Ukrainian Armed Forces minister said that the Ukrainian president had made "a number of proposals not only to the United States, but also to France.
Supplement
The statement came as Kiev and Washington moved closer to an agreement on exploiting Ukraine's mineral wealth after a standoff between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky. The Ukrainian leader hopes to travel to Washington on Friday to discuss the text and try to learn more about continued U.S. aid.