France will hand over 100 drones ordered from drone manufacturer Delair to the Ukrainian Armed Forces this summer, Defense Minister Sebastian Le Coronneu said.
“As part of an innovative program, France has ordered 100 unmanned aerial vehicles from Delair, which will arrive in Ukraine this summer. A total of 2,000 remotely piloted vehicles will be purchased from our defense industry. For the needs of our army and Ukraine,” the minister wrote on social network X on Thursday, February 29.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved attracting EUR200 million in grants from France for the reconstruction and restoration of critical infrastructure.
According to Taras Melnychuk, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, who posted on Telegram, the decision taken at a government meeting on Tuesday approved a draft grant agreement between the governments of Ukraine and France to help restore and maintain critical infrastructure and priority sectors of Ukraine’s economy.
The agreement provides for the attraction of grant funds from the French government in the amount of EUR 200 million. They will be used to reconstruct and restore critical infrastructure in sectors such as healthcare, infrastructure, energy, agriculture, water supply and sanitation, waste management, demining, and digital technologies.
High interest rates and the termination of large-scale government assistance provided to companies during the COVID-19 pandemic have hit businesses in most developed economies hard, resulting in double-digit bankruptcy growth rates, the Financial Times reports.
Thus, the number of corporate bankruptcies in the United States for the fiscal year ended September 30 increased by 30% compared to the same period a year earlier.
In Germany, which is the largest economy in Europe, the number of bankrupt companies increased by 25% in January-September. Since June, double-digit growth rates have been recorded every month, the country’s statistical office said.
According to the EU statistics agency, the number of insolvent companies in the community countries increased by 13% in January-September and reached the highest level in eight years. In France, the Netherlands, and Japan, the number of bankruptcies in October increased by more than 30% year-on-year. In England and Wales, the insolvency rate in January-September reached its highest level since 2009.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently reported that in a number of countries, including the Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden and Finland, the number of corporate bankruptcies has exceeded the levels of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.
The main negative factors are “the cost of debt servicing and the withdrawal of pandemic support, as well as high energy bills, especially in energy-intensive sectors,” according to Capital Economics Chief Economist Neil Shearing.
According to analysts, most bankruptcies were recorded in the transportation and hospitality industries.
Shearing warned that the trend of deteriorating solvency of companies will continue, as many businesses will have to refinance their debt at higher rates in the coming months, even though central banks are expected to have already reached their peak.
The surge in bankruptcies will put pressure on global economic activity and job growth over the next few years, experts say.
The international rating agency Moody’s expects the number of defaults of companies with speculative grade ratings in the world to continue to grow in 2024 after it already exceeded the average for recent years in October.
German insurer Allianz predicts that the global insolvency rate will reach 10% next year, up from 6% in 2023. The hospitality, transportation and retail sectors will be most affected.
“We are seeing an increase in corporate bankruptcies in almost all countries,” said Maxim Lemerl, a leading analyst at Allianz Research.
Defense Ministers of Ukraine Rustem Umerov and France’s Sébastien Lecorne discussed the supply of weapons and military equipment, bilateral projects on military-technical cooperation, training of Ukrainian servicemen and the implementation of Euro-Atlantic standards, the press service of the Defense Ministry reports.
“I would like to thank Mr. Minister, the President, the government and the people of the French Republic for their unwavering support for Ukraine in providing a powerful package of military and humanitarian aid, as well as protecting Ukrainians who were forced to flee Ukraine to escape Russian bombing,” the press service quoted Umerov as saying.
It is reported that France has already provided Ukraine with modern SAMP/T and Crotale air defense systems, CAESAR artillery systems, Milan anti-tank weapons, AMX tanks, VAB armored personnel carriers, etc. According to Umerov, “this assistance certainly brings our victory closer.”
Lecorneu, for his part, emphasized the importance of continuing assistance to Ukraine by partner countries in the long term, focusing on the transfer of weapons and military equipment, training of Ukrainian military personnel and joint defense production.
“The first is the transfer of weapons. We will continue to transfer weapons to Ukraine. The second part of our support is training of soldiers. We have fulfilled our goals by the end of the year. More than seven thousand Ukrainian soldiers were trained in France (on French territory or in Poland). It was either some general training or specialized training. I would like to inform you that the training will continue at the same level. The third issue is more strategic and concerns our ability to jointly produce something for the needs of Ukraine,” the French Defense Minister said.
In addition, during the visit of the Minister of the French Armed Forces to Ukraine, a memorandum of intent on cooperation was signed between the state-owned enterprise of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine “Defense Procurement Agency” and the Directorate General for Armaments (DGA) (France). The document envisages indefinite cooperation and creates a legal framework for concluding contracts. It will also contribute to deepening military-technical cooperation, in particular in the development of joint high-tech projects for the defense of both countries.
Police and gendarmes in France detained 719 rioters overnight, the country’s Interior Ministry said Sunday morning.
That figure is less than 24 hours earlier: on Saturday morning authorities had informed about 994 people detained during the night. And a few hours later, more complete figures came in about 1,311 detainees.
In general, as noted by the French media, it seems that this night in the cities of the country was somewhat calmer than previous ones. There were reports of 577 arson attacks on cars, as well as fires in 74 buildings. Hooligans also attempted to attack 10 gendarmerie barracks and six municipal police stations. All these figures are lower than on Saturday.
According to the French Interior Ministry, 54 police officers and gendarmes were injured overnight (79 the day before).
One of the most dangerous incidents occurred in the Parisian suburb of L’Ay-les-Roses, where hooligans set fire to a car and, seeking to use it as a battering ram, directed it toward the mayor’s house. One of the mayor’s children was injured. The police classified the incident as an attempted murder and are investigating.
Order in the French cities on Sunday night was provided by 45 thousand police officers and gendarmes.
On Saturday there was a funeral for a teenager who was shot and killed by a police officer on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The young French resident, while driving a car, refused to stop at the request of the police. A policeman then shot him. An investigation is under way to determine whether the policeman acted correctly. This incident provoked a wave of night-time unrest throughout the country, which has not subsided to this day.
France is discussing with its partners possible agreements on security guarantees for Ukraine in the face of future threats to the country, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said at a briefing on Tuesday.
“France is ready to agree with Ukraine on agreements aimed at providing security guarantees that will help it protect itself in the long term and prevent possible future aggressions,” the French foreign ministry said.
According to the Foreign Ministry, “France, together with its partners, continues to reflect on how best to support Ukraine in the long term and in all areas.”
The Wall Street Journal wrote that despite the fact that NATO is not currently considering Ukraine’s membership, the alliance’s leading powers are discussing possible security guarantees for Kyiv, which include strengthening the country’s defense capabilities and sovereignty.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France could act as guarantors of Ukrainian security, the publication reported.
