Macron: France will transfer Mirage fighters to Ukraine and train Ukrainian pilots by the end of 2024
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris will hand over Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Kyiv by the end of 2024 and take over the training of Ukrainian pilots, France 2 channel reports.
“Tomorrow we will start a new cooperation program and announce the delivery of the Mirage 2000-5 series – French combat aircraft that will allow Ukraine to defend its land and airspace. From tomorrow we will start a pilot training program and will hand over these aircraft by the end of the year.”, said Macron.
The French president did not specify the number of fighter jets that Paris intends to transfer to Kyiv, noting that the training of Ukrainian pilots by French instructors will last six months.
Macron also announced that France is ready to train and arm a 4,500-strong armed forces brigade. He also confirmed that Ukraine can strike Russian territory with French weapons. According to him, France is in favor of peace, but against its establishment at the price of Ukraine’s capitulation. Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said that France would send instructors to Ukraine to train the Ukrainian military. According to him, he has already signed a document that will allow the first French instructors to visit Ukrainian training centers, as well as get acquainted with their infrastructure and personnel. At the same time, the French Ministry of Defense said in a comment to the Reuters agency that the issue of sending instructors to Ukraine is still being worked out.
It should be recalled that at the end of February, French President Emmanuel Macron was the first Western leader to allow the possibility of sending European troops to Ukraine. He noted that this could happen in the event of a threat to capture Odesa or Kyiv. Macron later said that “not ruling something out does not mean doing it.” NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said that the Alliance currently has no plans to deploy its combat units in Ukraine.
