We will intensify the supply of weapons to Ukraine to help it counterattack

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday Ukrainian offensive The long-expected offensive against the occupying Russian forces had begun, and he promised more
of military aid to the Kiev government.

“We have done everything to help it (Ukraine),” Macron said at a press conference after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a tripartite summit of the so-called Weimar Triangle.

“We have intensified deliveries of ammunition, weapons and armed vehicles… and we will continue (to provide aid) in the coming days and weeks,” said Macron, who announced in recent days that he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who confirmed the start of the counterattack.

Asked whether Germany agreed that Ukraine needed to obtain security guarantees at the NATO summit in July, the German chancellor said: “It is clear that we need and need it in a very concrete way.”

Today, Ukraine announced new gains in the first phase of the counterattack, saying that its forces had recaptured seven villages from Russian forces along a front that extends for about 100 kilometers in southeastern Ukraine.

The tripartite meeting in Paris was meant to send a signal of unity between eastern and western Europe, after Warsaw played a major logistical and diplomatic role in helping Ukraine while often criticizing German and French leaders for their inaction.

Macron said the meeting was proof that there was no division between “old” and “new” Europe, a distinction previously made by the United States when Eastern European countries refused to support France and Germany over the war in Iraq 20 years ago.

However, divisions emerged during the brief question-and-answer session with reporters.

Both Macron and Schulch said they supported the migration deal agreed by EU ministers last week, under which EU countries unwilling to take in refugees would be asked to make a financial contribution to their fellow host countries.

But the Polish president expressed his skepticism.

“We received those who needed help in Poland… We helped and, to be honest, we did not receive any help, especially from the EU institutions,” he added.