French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas visited Ukraine on May 30 in order to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
During their visit, both ministers reiterated their countries’ commitments to finding a political resolution to Russia’s war against Ukraine in eastern Ukraine. Le Drian decided to prolong his stay in order to also visit the nuclear power station plant disaster site in Chornobyl, an uninhabited city 134 kilometers north of Kyiv.
Le Drian said that Zelenskiy is “a president strongly determined to reinforce his country and to ensure that peace comes back in Ukraine.
This was the first time that foreign ministers from major European countries visited Ukraine since the inauguration of the Ukrainian president on May 20.
Le Drian had another meeting with Zelenskiy on May 31 during which the two officials spoke of strengthening bilateral ties between France and Ukraine.
Le Drian announced an upcoming visit of Zelenskiy to France, and said that the main reason why President Emmanuel Macron asked him to visit Kyiv was to prepare Zelenskiy’s visit to Paris.
Le Drian also decided to visit Chornobyl on June 1 in order “to assess the completion of the construction and rehabilitation of the site.”
France is one of the country’s that participated in the construction of a modern radiation sarcophagus over the destroyed reactor No. 4 of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The sarcophagus was designed and built by the Novarka, a consortium of two major French building companies — Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Bouygues Travaux Publics.
French Ambassador to Ukraine Isabelle Dumont reported on her official Twitter page that Le Drian was able to oversee the completion of the new structure that covers the fourth reactor “thanks to exceptional French engineering.”
France is also actively looking into investing into solar energy being produced in Chornobyl. In 2017, the French government allocated 250,000 euros for a feasibility study to determine which areas of Chornobyl would be suitable for a solar power plant.
“The symbol of what (Chornobyl) may become tomorrow… a site of solar energy production… and I hope that there will be strong cooperation with France,” Le Drian said.
