Macron Announces Transfer Of Unique Planes To Ukraine For Striking Russian Territory

Training of pilots will begin this summer.

France will transfer Mirage 2000-5 combat jets to Ukraine and launch a training programme for Ukrainian pilots to learn how to fly the fighter jets, the country's President Emmanuel Macron said.

According to him, the training will start this summer and will take ‘five-six months’, respectively, the transfer of the planes will take place closer to ‘the end of the year’. At the same time, Macron noted that Kyiv will get the right to use the Mirage 2000-5 to strike targets on Russian territory.

‘We do not allow you to use weapons to attack civilians, but to neutralise the point from which you were attacked - yes,’ the French President said. He explained that forbidding Kyiv to ‘neutralise these Russian capabilities’ would be tantamount to saying that Ukraine ‘can no longer defend itself’.

According to Forbes, Paris may hand Kyiv about 20 Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets, which are a modernised version of the fourth-generation Mirage 2000. These aircraft are capable of using SCALP-EG cruise missiles, which France has already sent to Ukraine, as well as AASM Hammer smart bombs.

Macron also announced his intention to train 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers. ‘There is a problem of the number of Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian President and the Minister of Defence appealed to all allies - 48 hours ago in an official letter - with a request: We need you to train us faster, and that you do it on our territory,’ said the French President.

At the same time, according to Macron, the training of soldiers on the territory of Ukraine by French instructors is not an ‘escalation factor’.