Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during an official state visit to Western Europe, said yesterday that Kyiv and its Western supporters could make Russia's defeat in the war in Ukraine "irreversible" this year.
Zelenskyy arrived in France yesterday for a bilateral visit following his trip to Germany.
France today announced dozens more light tanks and armoured vehicles for Ukraine's army, together with training for the soldiers using them.
In their joint statement, French President Emmanuel Macron and Zelenskyy also called for fresh sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
"In the coming weeks, France will train and equip several battalions with tens of armoured vehicles and light tanks including AMX-10RC," said the statement.
Paris would also focus its efforts "in supporting Ukraine's air defence capacities in order to defend its population against Russian strikes".
"The ties with Europe are getting stronger, and the pressure on Russia is growing," Zelenskyy tweeted.
Earlier, during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv would always be grateful to Germany for its support during Russia's full-scale invasion.
Ukraine is expected to launch major counter-offensive operations in the coming weeks to try to recapture tracts of its east and south from Russian forces who launched a full-scale invasion in February last year.
Zelensky said Kyiv was prepared to discuss outside initiatives from other states to bring peace to his country but that those proposals should be based on Ukraine's position and its peace plan.
Kyiv has ruled out the idea of any territorial concessions to Russia and has said it wants every inch of its land back. Russia claims to have annexed the Crimean peninsula and four other Ukrainian regions, which Moscow now calls Russian land.
