The Latest Breaking News from Sébastien Lecornu

Russian defence minister has first phone call with French counterpart since 2022; Russian drones hit Kharkiv, killing five, says regional governor. What we know on day 771

Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu has confirmed France will deliver hundreds of old armoured vehicles and new surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine for its war against Russia.

Russian forces threatened to shoot down a French surveillance aircraft patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea, a signal of increasingly aggressive behavior from Moscow as its invasion of Ukraine struggles to make headway, French defense officials said Thursday.

NGOs and leftist members of the opposition have increased the pressure on France's government to reconsider arms sales to Israel in the wake of the war in Gaza and follow in the footsteps of other European nations that made moves to suspend military exports over concerns about the humanitarian situation…

France will send dozens of armoured vehicles to the Lebanese army so it can properly carry out patrol missions in the country, the Defence minister said in remarks published on Monday. This comes as tensions mount between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

France has urged Israel and the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah to avoid destabilising the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon – warning that broadening the Israel-Hamas war would plunge Lebanon "into an abyss". However Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said an escalation of hostilities was "a realistic possibility".

Gabon's new ruler General Brice Oligui Nguema has appointed former opposition leaders and key figures from the ousted regime to both houses of parliament, as the military junta sets a two-year transition period to democracy and military cooperation with France resumes.

HIV-positive people will now be able to join the army, France's defence minister, Sebastien Lecornu, said on France 2 TV on Monday. It follows similar moves in November 2022 for police.

Proposed spending for the French military for the next seven years is projected to hit a record high of €413 billion. The Minister of Defence and the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, says the increase is necessary due to a deterioration in the geopolitical context and to technological changes.