00:00Let's speak to our reporter, Camille Knight, standing by at the Élysée Palace.
00:04Hello to you, Camille. It's a rainy day here in the French capital.
00:09How will things go down with this visit between the two leaders?
00:16Quite the day for it, as you say.
00:18This is Volodymyr Zelensky's 12th visit to Paris since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
00:24He's becoming quite a regular here. We're expecting him to arrive any minute.
00:27Guards are at the ready. And we've been briefed a little bit about what the two presidents will be talking
00:33about.
00:33Obviously, as you can expect, financial support to Ukraine and also ways in which the EU can pressure Russia into
00:41ending its war,
00:42particularly with a focus this time on targeting Russia's shadow fleet of tankers that allow it to export its oil
00:50and fuel its war machine.
00:52They'll also be discussing military cooperation and particularly drone cooperation.
00:56So looking at how French and Ukrainian companies can work together to innovate because the Ukrainians have really become pioneers
01:04in terms of drone combat on the front line.
01:08So they're proving to become quite valuable partners.
01:11Now, this, of course, comes as a really critical time for Ukraine.
01:14There are a few estimates out there about how much money it has left to sustain itself,
01:18but some putting it as soon as next month or early May.
01:21And, of course, we know that the EU's loan has come to a bit of a, it's a bit of
01:27a roadblock with Hungary and Slovakia vetoing that 90 billion euro loan
01:33that was supposed to help Ukraine defend itself until at least the end of 2027.
01:39The big issue there, that Druzhba pipeline that provides Hungary and Slovakia with oil,
01:45that was hit by a Russian drone back in January and Robert Fico and Viktor Orban accusing Ukraine of delaying
01:53repairs as kind of political blackmail.
01:56Kiev obviously denying that, but that might be something that Macron wants to discuss with his Ukrainian counterpart,
02:01seeing if there's anything he can do to speed things along or to kind of at least appease Orban and
02:07Fico so they can get that loan through before a deadline next week.
02:11If they can't, countries might have to start thinking about bilateral loans, which, of course, is a possibility,
02:16but it does undermine the kind of unity and strength of the European Union as a bloc.
02:21Yeah, and a lot of difficult questions amid everything you just outlined there.
02:25Also, if geopolitical priorities have shifted, how has the war in the Middle East disrupted support for Ukraine?
02:34Of course, the spotlight is off Ukraine at the moment, and that's never good news for Volodymyr Zelensky,
02:40who needs all the support he can get.
02:42Now, when you listen to a number of high-ranking officials, you know, they say that kind of Russia is
02:46the big winner of this war,
02:48and it is benefiting in a number of ways.
02:50Just the price of oil going up, for example, directly boosts its revenue,
02:57because despite these sanctions, it's still a major exporter to countries like China,
03:02to India now, as you mentioned, with those restrictions being lifted by the US.
03:06We've also heard Trump floating the idea of potentially waiving oil-related sanctions.
03:14Now, he didn't mention Russia specifically, but, of course, that's top of everyone's minds,
03:18and the EU will be desperate to convince Trump that, as you can hear,
03:23Zelensky is arriving right now as we speak.
03:26The guards have begun.
03:33That's Zelensky arriving now to the Elysee Palace.
03:38Macron waiting for him just behind me.
03:58Walking up the stairs, together.
04:05All smiles from both leaders.
04:10And a warm handshake, as always.
04:18All right, Camille, thank you very much.
04:20They'll be holding a conference later.
04:23All right, Camille, thank you very much.
04:24Camille Knight reporting from the Elysee Palace.
04:26As you saw there, Vladimir Zelensky making his 12th trip to the French capital
04:31since Russia's full-scale invasion began.
04:33Thank you, Camille.
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