Auschwitz: Zelensky, Macron Talk Guns, EU Membership

President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday reportedly discussed security guarantees and accession to the EU while in Poland to attend Auschwitz commemoration events.

The French and Ukrainian presidents were in the Polish town of Oświęcim, adjacent to the German-named concentration camp, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation by the Red Army.

“We focused in particular on security cooperation and possible formats for security guarantees for Ukraine and all of Europe. We are counting on France’s support in the negotiation process for EU accession, Zelensky wrote on social media.

Zelensky added in posts that Kyiv was counting on “France’s support in the negotiation process for Ukraine’s accession to the EU.”

While incoming US President Donald Trump has cast doubt on Ukraine’s joining NATO any time soon, as a prelude to peace talks with Russia, the US of course has no say in who joins the European Union.

But while the EU’s Common Defense and Security Policy “enables the Union to take a leading role in peace-keeping operations, conflict prevention and in the strengthening of international security,” it does not have the same sort of guarantee of mutual protection outlined in the Alliance’s (if vaguely worded) Article 5, providing that an attack against one member “shall be considered an attack against them all.”

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Meanwhile, delegates of the G7 recommended on Monday that Kyiv’s bubbling controversy surrounding Ukraine’s Defense Procurement Agency (DPA), following Defense Minister Rustem Umerov’s decision not to extend the contract of its head, Maryna Bezrukova, “be resolved expeditiously and focus on keeping defense procurement going.”

The ongoing political power struggle threatens to shut down the flow of weapons to Ukraine.

Umerov said on Friday that his Ministry would not be extending the contract with the head of the DPA, Maryna Bezrukova, because Ukraine’s arms procurement had “turned into an Amazon” under her leadership, Ukrainska Pravda noted.

In the interim, the head of the Ukrainian State Logistics Operator, Arsen Zhumadilov, has been appointed as the DPA’s new head, despite Bezrukova’s protests that such an authority does not reside within Umerov’s ministry.