France and Germany will provide more air-defence hardware for Ukraine after “massive” Russian airstrikes in recent days, the key EU members said in a joint statement on Friday.
“France and Germany will provide additional air defence to Ukraine,” they said, after President Emmanuel Macron hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for a visit to the south of France.
“Despite intensive international diplomatic efforts, Russia shows no intention to end its war of aggression against Ukraine,” they added.
Russian missiles and drones ripped through apartment blocks in Kyiv on Thursday in the deadliest attack on the capital in months, killing at least 23 people, including four children and wounding around 50 others.
The two countries added that France — the EU’s only nuclear-armed power — and Germany are to open a “strategic dialogue” over nuclear deterrence in light of shared security challenges.
The goal will be developing a “common strategic culture, and to further interlink our security and defence objectives and strategies,” they said.
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The two countries noted that nuclear deterrence was a “cornerstone” of NATO security.
