Ukraine, France to strengthen cooperation in supporting Ukrainian veterans
Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs of France Alice Rufo, who arrived on a visit to Kyiv, met with veterans and signed an ambitious memorandum of understanding with her Ukrainian counterpart, Minister Natalia Kalmykova.
"I would like to start a new form of cooperation with your minister for veterans to support initiatives already underway for your veterans. As you know, France has a long history of working with veterans," she said at a briefing Friday in Kyiv.
Rufo emphasized that France has many veterans who served in Afghanistan and Africa.
"And we face the same challenges, such as retraining through sports, returning to a profession, reintegration into normal life, education, and so on. I discussed with your minister that caring for veterans is part of a society’s resilience," Rufo said.
She added that France "has much to learn from Ukrainians."
Alice Rufo arrived in Kyiv Friday morning. The deputy minister of the armed forces laid a wreath to honor fallen Ukrainian defenders and paid respects at the Wall of Memory.