Kyiv says talks on France sending military instructors to Ukraine are ongoing

Ukraine on Monday walked back an announcement that French military instructors would soon arrive in the country, saying that it was still in talks with Paris and other allies on the issue. Kyiv’s defence ministry made the “clarification” after army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said that the first French military instructors would soon arrive in the war-battered country.

“As of now, we are still in discussions with France and other countries on this,” Ukraine’s defence ministry said in a statement.

It added that it had “begun internal work on the relevant documents on this issue in order not to waste time on coordinating bureaucratic issues when the relevant decision is made.”