As Poland took over the Council of the EU's presidency at the beginning of January with a strong willingness to make progress on security and defense issues, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu traveled to Warsaw on Monday, January 13. The main focus of his trip was support for Ukraine as part of a format which, at Poland's initiative, also brought together the Italian, German, and British defense ministers.

Lecornu's visit follows an initial meeting of the five European countries in Berlin on November 25. It also follows in the footsteps of President Emmanuel Macron's visit on December 12, 2024. Last month, Macron went to Warsaw to discuss, among other issues, the dispatch of troops to Ukraine with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. At the time, the prospect of peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow seemed to be drawing closer. Lecornu's visit, however, was about broader issues, Tusk having expressed reservations about the "coalition" project as an intervention force.

"Poland's priority is not sending troops, but ensuring that arms shipments to Ukraine continue, and even increase in Europe, with defense industrial production keeping pace over time," explained Amélie Zima, a Poland and NATO specialist at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). "Warsaw's goal is to ensure that Kyiv is not pressured into making territorial concessions to Russia. Otherwise, it will consider that it will have won through the policy of fait accompli," added the researcher.

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