Burc Eruygur and Melike Pala
27 July 2025•Update: 27 July 2025
ISTANBUL / BRUSSELS
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on Sunday discussed Kyiv’s key defense needs during their latest phone conversation.
“We discussed Ukraine’s key defense needs, first and foremost, strengthening our air defense. We need reliable protection against Russian missiles and drones,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on X following the phone conversation, which he described as “productive and substantive.”
Expressing that he and Macron talked about the supply of additional missiles to Kyiv for SAMP/T and Crotale missile systems, Zelenskyy said they further discussed the financing of Ukrainian drone production, highlighting France’s readiness to help his country in this regard.
He said they also spoke about the training of Ukrainian pilots on the use of Mirage jets, expressing high appreciation that Paris will continue their training.
He added that he informed his French counterpart about the outcome of the third round of direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul, reminding him that both sides agreed on a new prisoner swap during their latest talks held earlier this week.
“We are awaiting a response to our proposal to hold a meeting at the highest level by the end of August. Representatives from Europe must be certainly present at this meeting,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine held a third round of renewed peace talks in Istanbul on Wednesday evening, which notably resulted in an agreement on a new prisoner exchange with at least 1,200 people from each side.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv's delegation at the talks, said during a press conference immediately after the negotiations that they proposed the organization of a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin by late August, with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump.
A day later, the Kremlin underlined the need to work towards such a meeting before it takes place, further arguing that the Ukrainian side is "trying to put the cart before the horse a little bit."
In his statement, Zelenskyy also said that he and Macron had detailed talks on Ukraine’s path to European integration.
"We agreed to work on finding solutions that will allow the first negotiation cluster to be opened as soon as possible. It is important that Ukraine and Moldova continue to move forward in sync,” Zelenskyy went on to say.
"I reiterated France’s support: we will continue to strengthen our assistance to Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia, which must finally agree to a ceasefire that paves the way for talks leading to a solid and lasting peace, with full European involvement," Macron said, for his part, in a later statement on X.
- Talks with European Commission president
Zelenskyy also spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, discussing Kyiv’s EU accession process, sanctions on Russia, and Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts.
“I thanked the European Commission for the provided expertise. We share the same vision: it is important that the bill is adopted without delay, as early as next week,” he said, referring to pending legislation to reform Ukraine’s asset recovery agency.
Zelenskyy announced the signing of laws to restructure the agency responsible for tracing and managing assets derived from corruption and other crimes.
He also thanked von der Leyen for the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia and said they reviewed the next steps for opening Ukraine’s first EU negotiation cluster.
Von der Leyen later posted that she had a “good” conversation with Zelenskyy, stating: “Ukraine can count on our support to deliver progress on its European path.”
