Ukraine’s Defence Ministry has reported that Minister Rustem Umierov cancelled his visit to France, where the creation of an artillery coalition will be announced, because he had to participate in the meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

"Regarding the participation of the defence minister in the opening of the artillery coalition...

The participation of the defence minister was announced in advance, but the visit may be postponed because yesterday (17 January – ed.) the minister of defence took part in the meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

The minister of defence will participate in the opening event of the artillery coalition online."

The ministry also added that now the teams of the Ukrainian and French ministries are working on a new date for the visit.

At the opening of the coalition, the artillery of the Ministry of Defence will be represented by a Ukrainian delegation headed by Deputy Minister Ivan Havryliuk.

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umierov cancelled his trip to France on 18 January at the last moment, citing "security considerations", and said he will participate in the planned events online.

An artillery coalition was expected to be announced during Umierov's visit within the Ramstein-format meeting, involving 20 states led by France and the USA.

The detailed programme of the visit for the media was published on 15 January.

On January 17, the first NATO-Ukraine Council meeting at the level of heads of defence departments was held, however Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, did not attend.