France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that Paris would send Mirage 2000-5 fighter aircraft to Ukraine and increase training for Kyiv’s troops, confirming the French government’s recent willingness to more openly support Ukraine.
“Tomorrow we will launch a new cooperation and announce the transfer of Mirage 2000 [fighters], which help Ukraine protect its skies,” Macron said during an interview with France’s TF1 in Caen, near the June 6 commemoration of the Normandy beach landings on D-Day in 1944.
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Macron also said France would provide Ukrainians military training for 4,500 service personnel in France for five to six months beginning as early as this summer.
“We’ve always had the same philosophy, we help the Ukrainians to fight,” he said.
Earlier, Paris did not offer any of its fighter aircraft, saying Ukraine should concentrate on US-produced F-16s, which are more common than the French-made Mirages.
No details have been announced for the number of Mirage fighters Ukraine would receive. Nor have any indications of an overall timeline been released, indicating that this plan may be in its very early stages. The handover of Mirage aircraft to Kyiv involves many of the same considerations and preparations as in the acquisition of the F-16.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in France for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day commemorations, attended by world leaders from allied nations. Macron and US President Joe Biden both compared the fight Ukraine has been forced into by the Russian invasion and the allied fight to stop the authoritarian aggression of the Nazis in World War II.
Biden and Macron Greeted Zelensky in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-day and vowed to continue support for Ukraine’s fight against tyranny.
Biden, speaking at the American commemorative event, used his address to send a message to the Kremlin that the West “will not bow down” and will “stand for freedom.”
“To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators, is simply unthinkable,” Biden said in a speech at the American cemetery in Normandy.
“We will not walk away because if we do Ukraine will be subjugated, and it will not end there,” Biden said. “Ukraine’s neighbors will be threatened, all of Europe will be threatened.”
Biden warned those at the Omaha Beach cemetery and the world at large that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “tyrant bent on domination.”
Zelensky says that “FPV drones practically saved the front line” while awaiting ammo from allies
In his June 6 nightly report, President Zelensky said that Ukraine must, “make Russia see that we have the means to respond to any attempt to expand the war and increase pressure on Ukraine. And we are working with our partners to improve our capabilities – to make them even more long-range.”
Zelensky credited Ukraine’s use of drones as being critical for the nation’s defense: “In this war, it has been proven – and especially by our warriors –that drones can give the advantage and help regain the initiative.
“While we were waiting for artillery supplies from our partners, the FPV drones practically saved the front line.
“Our long-range drones have proven Ukraine’s ability to degrade the internal strength of a terrorist state. We must continue this. We will continue.
Zelensky also said the early weeks of this month will show how Ukraine will fare for the rest of 2024: “It is only the beginning of June, but these are already the weeks that will determine the whole summer and, in many ways, this year.
“It is about the Peace Summit and our consolidation of the world for the sake of Ukraine, it is also about Europe – our relations with the European Union, and of course it is also about our positions on the front and domestic production,” Zelensky said, concluding that, “We are doing our best in each of these areas to bring results – to bring them to Ukraine.”
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