Valery Zaluzhny had a telephone conversation with the Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of the French Republic, General of the Army Thierry Burkhard.
"I had a telephone conversation with the Chief of the Defence Staff of the French Republic, General of the Army Thierry Burkhard. I thanked my colleague and in his person all the French people for their help and support. I also expressed condolences over the death from the Russian shelling in Ukraine of French journalist Frédéric Leclerc.
I informed my counterpart about the current operational situation, emphasizing that hostilities are taking place in almost all directions. The most difficult situation is in the Luhansk region, where the enemy is trying to displace our units from their positions. I explained that the operations are complex and require a combination of both defensive and offensive actions. However, the enemy has a decisive advantage in artillery, which raises the question of the earliest possible transition of our units to NATO type weapons. It will save the lives of our people and our territories."
On May 30, the head of the Lugansk regional military administration, Serhiy Gaidai, said that an armored evacuation vehicle, which was going to pick up people from the region, came under enemy fire. The French journalist Frederic Leclerc, who was reporting on the evacuation, was mortally wounded.
