Volodimir Zelensky said on Sunday he had reached "a very important agreement on the training of (Ukrainian) pilots in France", during a telephone conversation with Emmanuel Macron.

The Elysée Palace made no mention of this agreement in a report on the conversation, during which, according to the French presidency, Emmanuel Macron "reiterated France's determination to continue supporting Ukraine militarily, industrially and economically over the long term" at a time when doubts are creeping into Western circles about the effectiveness of the Kyiv counter-offensive.

In an interview on TF1 on May 15, the French President announced that he had "opened the door to training Ukrainian pilots".

On Sunday, according to the Elysée Palace, the French president "exchanged views" with his Ukrainian counterpart "on the state of the counter-offensive and the situation on the ground, at a time when the Ukrainian armed forces are registering initial successes".

The two presidents also took stock of efforts to strengthen the security of Ukrainian grain exports, and agreed to step up their cooperation in this area, the Elysée added.

According to Volodimir Zelensky, the two leaders discussed what France could do to help protect the port of Odessa and the surrounding region.

Emmanuel Macron and Volodimir Zelensky also decided to launch discussions on a bilateral arrangement following the commitments made at the Vilnius G7 summit in July.

At that time, the seven major Western powers presented a multilateral initiative to provide Kyiv with long-term security assurances, with the aim of strengthening its defenses against Russia and deterring Moscow from further aggression.

(Written by Jean-Stéphane Brosse, with Elaine Monaghan)