PARIS — France plans to supply Mirage 2000-5 jets to Ukraine and begin training pilots this summer, with the first training completed by the end of the year, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday.
France is building a coalition with other countries to supply the jets, similar to the coalition of several other European countries to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, Macron said in an interview with broadcasters TF1 and France 2. The French president and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Normandy for D-Day celebrations.
“We will launch a new cooperation program and announce the transfer of Mirage 2000-5 – French fighters that will allow Ukraine to protect its soil and airspace,” Macron said. “Starting tomorrow we will launch a pilot training program, followed by the transfer of these aircraft.”
Dassault Aviation has produced around 600 Mirage 2000 jets, half of which have been exported to eight countries, including Greece, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. The Mirage 2000-5 is an upgraded air defense variant with improved radar. It is compatible with the Mica air-to-air missile as well as the Scalp cruise missiles that France supplied to Ukraine, which is fighting a Russian invasion.
Macron declined to say how many jets France will supply, noting that details will be released on Friday when Zelenskyy is in Paris.
“The key factor is pilot training time, and so we will propose to President Zelenskyy that pilots be trained as early as this summer – normally it takes five to six months – so that by the end of the year they will be able to fly. these aircraft,” Macron said, adding that Ukrainian pilots will be trained in France.
The Dutch and Danish governments announced last year that they would supply F-16 jets to Ukraine, with Norway and Belgium joining the coalition. Pilot training for the aircraft is ongoing in several European countries.
France will also propose training and equipping a brigade of 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers, according to Macron. He said France and allies are considering training soldiers on Ukrainian soil in response to a request from the embattled country.
“Is this something that is an escalation factor? The answer is no,” said Macron. “Training someone in the western zone, which is a free area of Ukraine, is not aggressive towards Russia.”
Macron said Ukraine could use French weapons to attack locations in Russia where the country was being targeted, and restricting such use would amount to not allowing Ukrainians to defend themselves against shelling.
“The limit is set by what the Russians do,” Macron said. “We are not the ones who decide now that we are going to change our methods and attack Ukraine from Russian soil.”
Zelenskyy will meet French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu in Paris on Friday. He will also meet with defense companies KNDS, Thales, MBDA, Dassault Aviation and Arquus, as well as participate in the signing of a letter of intent with KNDS to create a unit in Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Armed Forces.
