Macron Announces France Will Supply Fighters to Ukraine

On Thursday, following the celebrations for the national holiday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will begin supplying Ukraine with Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets. The supply program is set to start on Friday after a signing agreement in Paris with the President of Ukraine.

This was stated by Macron in an interview with the French TF1 television channel. The Mirage 2000-5 fighter is a multifunctional jet aircraft that has been in service for about 25 years and has both air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities. The Mirage fighters have been successfully exported by France to several countries and overall have similar capabilities to the American-made F-16 fighter.

Macron mentioned that he proposed to start pilot training for this aircraft as early as this summer, with the training expected to last around six months. France is already conducting basic flight training for Ukrainian pilots as part of the F-16 supply program.

The French President expressed hope to create a coalition of countries that can provide their own Mirage aircraft to Ukraine. Both Greece and the UAE have Mirage 2000-5 jets in their air force arsenal.