French President Emmanuel Macron has announced France's decision to provide Ukraine with Mirage 2000 fighter jets and train Ukrainian pilots, though the specifics of the quantity and delivery timeline remain undisclosed.
"Tomorrow we will launch a new cooperation and announce the transfer of Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine, made by French manufacturer Dassault, and train their Ukrainian pilots in France," Macron told France's TF1 broadcaster on Thursday.
Kiev has long requested Mirage 2000 warplanes alongside US-made F-16 fighters. In a social media post in January, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force stated that these jets—comparable to the F-16 but more maneuverable—could "increase the combat potential" of Ukraine’s Soviet-era fleet.
France has around 26 Mirage 2000-5 and 65 older Mirage 2000-D aircraft in active service, according to Flight International’s World Air Forces rankings. It is unclear whether Macron plans to use the French Air Force's active fleet or recommission out-of-service jets for Kiev.
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
President Emmanuel Macron, long considered perhaps Europe’s foremost anti-Russia hawk, committed to sending his country’s Mirage-2000 warplanes to Ukraine during an appearance on French television Thursday.
ReplyDelete“The goal is to have the pilots and the jets in Ukraine by the end of the year,” said the leader, committing to a plan also involving the training of Ukrainian troops to operate the bomber this summer. The pilots will receive instruction as part of a French effort to train 4,500 soldiers for Kiev, the president also revealed.
The aircraft, a single-engine, delta wing jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation, had been requested by Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk earlier this year.
Macron had refused to offer the plane to Ukraine as recently as February while signing a bilateral agreement with Kiev that nonetheless granted Volodymyr Zelensky an extra €3 billion in additional lethal aid this year.