Following France's example, Umerov urged partners to equip Ukrainian brigades.

Kiev expects that its partners will take the initiative in equipping Ukrainian brigades and battalions. A similar initiative was previously implemented in collaboration with France.

This was reported by RBK-Ukraine with reference to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

He mentioned that together with his colleagues, they assessed the urgent needs of the Defense Forces and the priority areas for assistance to Ukraine.

He stated that they reviewed the pressing needs of the Defense Forces along with priority assistance avenues for Ukraine.

"We expect our partners to take the initiative in equipping our brigades and battalions. There is successful experience in collaboration with France, which has provided training for one of the Ukrainian brigades and also supplied it with armored vehicles," the minister said.

At the same time, Umerov reminded about another area of support, specifically the enhancement of Ukrainian air defense ahead of winter.

"The enemy continues to make attempts to destroy our critical infrastructure, so we demand more air defense systems and ammunition for them," he said.

The minister shared that together with allies, Ukraine is already developing the potential of its domestic defense industry. He stated that Kiev is already offering countries of the free world to transfer technologies and initiate strategic partnerships with Ukrainian industry.

Umerov also informed partners about the sectors where Ukraine sees significant opportunities for cooperation:

• partnership in the production of 155 mm ammunition;
• localization of air defense systems and missile production in Ukraine, as well as partnership in developing Ukrainian air defense systems;
• localization of production of heavy armored vehicles and artillery systems;
• partnership in defense technologies, such as autonomous systems, electronic warfare, and radars.

"At the same time, we plan to conduct an audit with allied countries of the assistance provided during 2022, 2023, and 2024. We need to determine which models of support for Ukraine have worked best and scale them up," he noted.

Assistance to Ukraine from France

It should be noted that France remains one of Ukraine's key allies. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, Paris has provided significant military assistance to Kiev, including artillery systems, armored vehicles, ammunition, missiles, air defense systems, and other types of weapons.

In addition to military support, France actively promotes Ukraine on the political stage, advocating for further integration of the country into the European Union and NATO.

It is worth noting that it was French President Emmanuel Macron who initiated the sending of military instructors to train Ukrainian servicemen.

Additionally, this month, France completed the training of the Ukrainian brigade "Anna Kyivska."