The French military force is training a whole new brigade of several thousand Ukrainian troops who will be joining the fight against Russia’s invasion armed with France-supplied tanks, artillery canons and other heavy weaponry.

In the east of France, the training course for the Ukrainian infantry brigade, which now bears the name of Anne of Kyiv, is nearing completion. The corresponding commitment to train and arm several thousand Ukrainian soldiers on French territory had been undertaken by the country's president,

The approaching return to Ukraine of the “Anne of Kyiv” brigade, after more than two months of intense military training in eastern and southern France, comes at another critical juncture in the almost three-year war.