French foreign minister visits Ukraine's Odesa

STORY: Colonna met her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, to discuss humanitarian and military aid. The discussion is likely to have included the question of whether France is ready to supply Leclerc main battle tanks after the United States and Germany committed to send tanks, opening the door for other allies to do so.

France has so far agreed to send AMX-10 RCs armoured combat vehicles, but stopped short of committing to sending the Leclercs. Paris argues that, unlike the German Leopards, which are omnipresent across Europe with as many as 2,000 available, there are only about 200 Leclercs. They are also no longer produced.

"(We) announced, at the very beginning of the month of January, that France would deliver AMX-10 tanks," Colonna said in a news conference after their talks.

The visit aims to send a message to Moscow amid Western fears that Russia, almost a year after invading Ukraine, may still want to launch an attack on the city to deprive Ukraine of its key maritime outlet for grain products.