France's new foreign minister travels to Kiev, will meet Zelensky

New French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will travel to Kiev on Monday to underline her country's military, financial and humanitarian support for war-torn Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry in Paris said.

The trip is a sign of France's solidarity with the Ukrainian people in the face of Russian aggression, the ministry said.

Colonna will be received in Kiev by President Volodymyr Zelensky. She will also meet her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, with whom she will discuss the Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain.

She also plans to visit the Kiev suburb of Bucha, where hundreds of civilians were found dead after the Russians withdrew in April.

Colonna took office just over a week ago after the appointment of the new government of re-elected President Emmanuel Macron. Macron himself has not yet travelled to Kiev and had announced that he would do so at a moment when it could have a concrete benefit in ending the war.