KYIV, Dec 28 - France’s defense minister on Wednesday pledged further military support for Ukraine, insisting his government’s backing is unflagging while efforts are also being made with Moscow to reach an eventual negotiated end to Russia’s invasion.

Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu said support will include French army equipment and a 200-million-euro (US$212 million) fund that would allow Ukraine to purchase weapons, The Associated Press reported.

While France has been less vocal about its military backing for Ukraine than the United States and Britain, the country has sent a steady supply of weapons to Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24.

France hosted two aid conferences for Ukraine this month. But many in Ukraine remain critical of Paris’ response to the war because of President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to maintain contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and seek a negotiated solution.

Lecornu said France was giving military equipment from the French army to the Ukrainian army, but highlighted that this would not weaken France’s defense. France could deliver a new air-defense system in the future, officials said, without revealing details, though Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov added that France would immediately begin training Ukrainian air officers on how to use it.

Lecornu and Reznikov did not specify which new air defense system France could give Ukraine in the near future. But Lecornu later mentioned the MAMBA anti-missile system developed together with Italy, describing it as the European equivalent of the Patriot air defense system that the U.S. has given Ukraine.

Unlike the U.S. government, which announced it was giving the Patriots before teaching Ukrainians how to use them, France will train Ukrainians first so that it could potentially deliver a new system, such as the Mamba SAMP/T together with Italy, once they are ready to use it, Lecornu’s office explained to the AP.

Reznikov said Ukraine’s top priority remains “air defense, anti-missile defense, anti-drone defense, that is, the task of protecting (the) Ukrainian sky.” French Crotale air-defense systems already are “on combat duty,” said Reznikov.

“And accordingly, we agreed that we will increase (the) capabilities of our air force,” he said.

Lecornu arrived a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the U.S., Ukraine’s chief ally, and amid fighting focused mostly in the country’s east but with neither Moscow nor Kyiv reporting major gains in recent weeks.

After a meeting with Lecornu, Zelensky expressed gratitude to France on social media “for the already provided military assistance aimed at protecting the Ukrainian sky and strengthening the capabilities of the defense forces.”

Earlier on Wednesday, in his annual speech to Ukraine’s parliament, Zelensky urged the European Union to open membership talks with his country after granting it candidate status in June. He also praised relations with the U.S., saying its decision to send Patriot missiles is “a special sign of trust in Ukraine.”

While both Russia and Ukraine have said they were willing to participate in peace talks, their stated conditions remain far apart. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Wednesday that any peace plan must acknowledge four regions of Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed as Russian territory, a demand that Kyiv flatly rejects.

France has supplied Ukraine with a substantial chunk of its arsenal of Caesar cannons, as well as anti-tank missiles, Crotale air defense missile batteries and rocket launchers. It is also training some 2,000 Ukrainian troops on French soil. Macron pledged last week to provide a new injection of weapons in early 2023. (ap/ez)