Germany, France vow to continue military support for Ukraine

BERLIN (AA) - Germany and France will continue providing military support to Ukraine despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent threats, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Thursday.

Speaking alongside French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu in Berlin, Lambrecht strongly criticized Russia for its partial military mobilization and planned referendums in separatist regions in Ukraine, where Moscow launched a "special military operation" in February.

“We’re sending a clear signal. This reaction from Putin to Ukraine's successes spurs us on to continue our support to Ukraine,” she stressed, adding that European countries will continue training Ukrainian troops and provide further weapons.

Lambrecht said the international community will not recognize the “sham referendums” in the Russian-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine.

“These referendums would not have any meaning, and they will not have any influence on our policy, our support to Ukraine,” she said.

For his part, Lecornu said European countries demonstrated strong unity against Russia, and they will continue their joint efforts to support the Ukrainian troops.

“We are having talks with our Ukrainian counterparts,” he said, referring to the military plans and concrete needs of the Ukrainian troops.

“We are providing support, and we’ll continue to do so in future,” he added.

Putin announced on Wednesday a partial military mobilization calling up to 300,000 reservists for probable deployment to Ukraine, and underlined that Russia will use all means to defend the country.

Ukraine’s self-declared republics of Luhansk and Donetsk, along with Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, will hold referendums on joining Russia from Sept. 23-27.