France and Ukraine have pledged to work together to continue securing arms amid a three-month-old counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces and to jointly develop weapons production.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said he and his French counterpart had focused on boosting co-operation in terms of training Ukraine's armed forces and in the technical field.
"Dozens of projects have either been launched or are under discussion, aimed at organising joint production of new weapons or maintenance of weapons already with us," Umerov told a news conference alongside French minister Sebastien Lecornu.
The two sides, he said, were considering the establishment of a fund "to support joint ventures with our partners and companies which want to begin production in Ukraine".
Lecornu said France would "continue to help Ukraine as much as is necessary," but gave no details on arms that might yet be provided.
"This war could keep going on," he told reporters.
"Let me restate our confidence in the Ukrainian arms for making this counteroffensive a success."
Ukraine's counteroffensive has focused on retaking areas of eastern Ukraine seized by Russian troops earlier this year and in advancing south to sever a land bridge established by Russia between annexed Crimea and positions held in the east.
France and Ukraine, Lecornu said, would consider "what we can do together in terms of (arms) acquisition or production".
And France would maintain its current levels of training Ukrainian soldiers - more than 7000 this year.
Lecornu earlier discussed possibilities for joint weapons production with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
"I discussed with your ministers very specifically how French industry can help you. We, of course, will continue this work," Lecornu said in a video published by Zelenskiy on the Telegram messenger app.
Lecornu and Zelenskiy discussed bolstering Ukraine's air defences ahead of winter, the president's office said in a statement.
Ukraine fears Russia will conduct a campaign of air strikes on critical energy infrastructure during the northern hemisphere winter.
Zelenskiy said he was grateful to French President Emmanuel Macron for military assistance, pointing in particular to the supply of anti-aircraft missile systems, Caesar self-propelled artillery units and Scalp cruise missiles.
