Illia Zabarnyi used Paris Saint-Germain's 3-1 Ligue 1 win over Strasbourg on Saturday to make a plea for continued French support of his homeland, saying he hopes the next president keeps helping Kyiv.
Speaking in the mixed zone after the match, the Ukrainian defender said: "I know that Emmanuel Macron helps Ukraine a great deal, and that is extremely important for us."
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Zabarnyi, who opened the scoring against Strasbourg, went on, 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."
His words answered a position staked out by Marine Le Pen, the National Rally leader and a potential candidate to succeed Macron at the presidential election scheduled for May 2027.
Le Pen had 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 through its contributions to European aid and 7.9 billion euros arrived as direct bilateral assistance.
France still trails Germany, though. The largest European contributor has provided around 54 billion euros, split between 31 billion euros in bilateral aid and 23 billion euros through its contributions to European aid.