France donates fighter aircraft to Ukraine
On 6 June 2024, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would send Mirage 2000-5F fighter aircraft to Ukraine, marking a significant increase in the country's direct military support to Kyiv.
The French president also stated that Ukrainians would receive training in France for five to six months starting this summer, with a goal of training 4.500 service personnel.
Until now, France had refrained from donating fighter jets to Ukraine, arguing that Kyiv should focus on obtaining and training on F-16s, which are more common than the Mirages produced by the French arms manufacturer Dassault.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is in France where he participated in the 80th anniversary of the D-Day commemorations, which gathered veterans and world leaders from allied nations on the Normandy beaches. On Friday, 7 June, Zelenskyy will meet French defence manufacturers, address France's National Assembly, and hold talks with the French president. Macron did not specify how many Mirage 2000s would be delivered.
Currently, France has 28 Mirage 2000-5F in her active inventory of which the majority is operated by the Group de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes (GC01.002) at Luxeuil/St.Sauveur.
Credit photo: Andrei Shmatko (Scramble Archive)