France wants to immediately begin training Ukrainian pilots and mechanics for the promised Mirage fighter jets. “The priority is to immediately begin training pilots and mechanics. This will begin in France in the next few days,” said French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday evening after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in the Élysée Palace in Paris.
Macron has not yet mentioned the number of Mirage jets that France and other countries want to give to Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia. France still has to clarify how many aircraft it will provide itself and the talks on the joint initiative that began several months ago with partner countries have to be concluded. Macron had announced the delivery of the fighter jets the evening before.
The Mirage 2000-5 aircraft are primarily designed for air defense and can also be used to deploy the Franco-British Scalp/Storm Shadow cruise missiles that were supplied to Ukraine. France’s air force plans to phase out the jets by 2030 and replace them with modern Rafale jets. France has 40 Mirage 2000-5s, and the aircraft type has also been exported to other countries.
During Zelensky’s visit, it was also decided that the German-French arms company KNDS will produce grenades and spare parts for Caesar guns in Ukraine in the future. Macron also announced further deliveries of Scalp cruise missiles and a fund of 200 million euros to support the Ukrainian economy. Specifically, companies that want to invest in the country’s critical infrastructure will benefit from this.
The US government does not plan to participate in the French president’s initiative to send military trainers to Ukraine. The communications director of the National Security Council, John Kirby, said on Friday evening on the sidelines of a visit by US President Joe Biden to France that Biden respects Macron’s stance. However, the US president has made it clear since the beginning of the war in Ukraine that he will not send American soldiers there. “That has been the case so far, and it will continue to be the case in the future,” stressed Kirby.
The US President is leaving it up to Macron to decide how much information he will make public on the subject and how much clarity he will provide. Biden, for his part, has made several points very clear since the war began. These include “that we do not want a Third World War here and we do not want a war with Russia.” Referring to Biden, Kirby stressed: “He has said time and again that an escalation of the conflict on this scale would not only be terrible for the Ukrainian people.” It would also have catastrophic consequences for the entire European continent and would not be in the interests of the United States. “The President has made no secret of that. And he will continue to make no secret of it.”