The Paris Saint-Germain player responds to Marine Le Pen's threats

Zabarnyi scored for Paris against Strasbourg

Illia Zabarnyi wants France to keep backing Ukraine. The Paris Saint-Germain defender used Saturday's 3-1 Ligue 1 win over Strasbourg to voice his hope that the country's next president will carry on helping Kyiv.

"I know that Emmanuel Macron helps Ukraine a great deal, and that is extremely important for us," the defender said in the mixed zone after the match.

Zabarnyi, who opened the scoring against Strasbourg, added in comments carried by French network RMC: "We are really proud of our country, and proud to have a good system, and I hope the new French president will continue to help Ukraine, because we are proud not only of Ukraine, but of the whole of Europe."

Those words were aimed squarely at Marine Le Pen. The National Rally leader is a potential candidate to succeed Macron at the presidential election scheduled for May 2027.

Le Pen has said she would keep financial aid to Ukraine flowing for six months if elected, then shut it off.

Germany's Kiel Institute, which tracks aid sent to Ukraine, puts France's total contribution since February 2022 at around 27 billion euros. Of that, 19 billion euros came via its contributions to European aid and 7.9 billion euros as direct bilateral assistance.

Germany still dwarfs that figure. The largest European contributor has provided roughly 54 billion euros, split between 31 billion euros in bilateral aid and 23 billion euros through its contributions to European aid.