PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has Monday that they had “opened the door” to training Ukrainian fighter pilots, even if he omitted sending any warplanes to Ukraine.
He spoke a day after Ukraine’s President Zelensky visited France on the second such visit since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Paris to provide training to Ukrainian fighter pilots
Emmanuel Macron said in a televised interview that France has opened the door to training Ukrainian pilots, and this with some other European nations. He thought that discussions were also underway with Washington. “The training can flinch from now,” he said, without giving further information.
After months of standoff, Kyiv has been preparing to retake areas captured by Moscow and is shoring up military support to help make its forces more battle-ready.
President Zelensky has for months been requesting for modern fighter jets including F-16, but NATO nations have so far drawn the line at sending Ukraine any such jests.
One French official in February told AFP that Paris could in theory provide 13 French fighters, but in practice, it would take too long to train Ukrainian pilots to utilize them.
The two leaders had also dinner on Sunday night, as Zelensky visited several European nations to increase his arms store. Macron said that they have decided to send more arms and ammunition.
“Paris still has the same stance: to assist Kyiv resist. A lot is at stake right now, due to the success of this counter-offensive will be conclusive for the capacity to build permanent peace,” the French president said.
