Paris will train 4,500 soldiers of armed forces of Ukraine: Macron

France will transfer Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of a new military cooperation with Kyiv as it fights the Russian invasion, President Emmanuel Macron announced, France 24 reports. 

 

"Tomorrow we will launch a new cooperation and announce the transfer of Mirage 2000-5" fighter jets to Ukraine made by French manufacturer Dassault and train their Ukrainian pilots in France, Macron told French TV.

 

Macron said he would offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when the two meet for talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday that the pilots be trained from this summer.

 

"You need normally between five-six months. So by the end of the year there will be pilots. The pilots will be trained in France," he said.

 

He did not specify how many of the fighter jets would be delivered. Contacted by AFP, the defence ministry did not elaborate.

 

Macron said Ukraine was facing a "huge challenge" training soldiers as it sought to mobilise tens of thousands more troops to go to the front.

 

He said France would equip and train an entire brigade of 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers so they can defend themselves when they return to Ukraine from training.

 

Kyiv has been pushing Europe to increase its military support, with Russia in recent months gaining the upper hand on the battlefield.