The French Foreign Minister today defended that there are no “red lines” in Paris’ support for Ukraine and admitted authorizing French weapons for Ukrainian forces to be used against Russia.
Jean-Noel Barrot maintained, in an interview with the BBC, that Ukraine could fire French missiles at Russia “in the logic of self-defense”, but did not indicate whether they had already been used.
“The principle has been established… our messages to President Zelensky were well received”, he said in an interview on the program “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg”.
The statements by the head of French diplomacy come shortly after the United States and the United Kingdom gave Kiev the “green light” to use North American ATACMS and British Storm Shadows long-range missiles on Russian soil, which already happened last week in the Bryansk and Kursk regions.
The BBC interview followed Barrot’s meeting in London on Friday with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London.
For the French minister, Western allies “should not establish or express red lines” in support of Kiev, in line with a previous statement by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who even defended the sending of French troops to Ukraine.
“We are not ruling out any option”, Jean-Noel Barrot limited himself to saying today in this regard.
“We will support Ukraine as intensely and for as long as necessary. Why? Because it is our security that is at stake. Every time the Russian Army advances one square kilometer, the threat moves one square kilometer closer to Europe,” he argued.
The head of French diplomacy also suggested inviting Ukraine to join NATO, as requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that he is working with Kiev’s other allies to bring positions closer.
France has supplied Scalp medium-range surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine but has never provided details on their use.
