A France-trained force aims to strengthen Ukraine's defenses at a critical point in war

A FRENCH MILITARY BASE, France (AP) — A French military task force with a festive name — “Champagne” — is wrapping up a mission that's no party: training a whole new brigade of several thousand Ukrainian troops who will be joining the fight against Russia's invasion armed with France-supplied tanks, artillery canons and other heavy weaponry.

The approaching return to Ukraine of the “Anne of Kyiv” brigade, after more than two months of intense military training in eastern and southern France, comes at another critical juncture in the almost three-year war.

Russian forces are driving westward in an effort to capture all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. They've been bolstered by up to 12,000 North Korean troops that have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk border region to help beat back Ukrainian forces there, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.

The reelection of Donald Trump is also keeping Ukraine and its allies guessing about the impact he'll have as U.S. president on the war's future trajectory, following his campaign pledges to swiftly end the fighting and suggestions that Kyiv should cede territory to Moscow in return for peace.