The visit comes as Kyiv's allies worry that a temporary lifting of Russian oil sanctions by the United States will aid Russian President Vladimir Putin, already boosted by rising energy prices due the Middle East war. The two leaders are expected to hold a press conference on Zelensky's 12th visit to France since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. The talks will focus on increasing pressure on Russia by targeting its "shadow fleet" of tankers used to transport oil in breach of sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine, the French presidency has said. But the United States on Thursday said it was allowing the sale of Russian oil that is at sea, in a bid to cool international oil prices after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 sparked a regional war. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the short-term measure was aimed to "increase the global reach of existing supply". German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that "easing sanctions now, for whatever reason, is wrong. We believe that is the wrong course of action". "After all, we want to ensure that Russia does not exploit the war in Iran to weaken Ukraine," he said. (Bssnews)