The Head of State opens the door, in an interview on LCI and TF1, to the training of Ukrainian pilots by France. However, he excludes the delivery of fighter jets to kyiv.
“There is no taboo”. The day after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart at the Élysée Palace, Emmanuel Macron announced in an interview with TF1 and LCI to open the door to the training of Ukrainian fighter pilots by France, in order to help Ukraine to fight against the military offensive launched by Russia in February 2022.
“We have opened the door to train pilots” of Ukrainian fighters, declared the president, specifying that these could start “as of now”. “And this with several other European countries which are ready for it. I believe that discussions are underway with the Americans”.
Delivery of new ammunition, but no planes
The president specifies that France could train Ukrainian pilots, but not for planes. “We start with training for the moment, because in any case, it would be a theoretical debate. We need today to start training, this is the agreement that several European countries have taken”, continues the President during this interview.
“We have decided to deliver new ammunition”, he limited himself to saying.
Emmanuel Macron says he is convinced that “training and the ability to repair, to put in operational condition the equipment that we have already delivered” will be “decisive” to allow Ukraine to resist and lead the counter-offensive.
“We are not making war on Russia”
Asked about the subject, the Head of State recalls, however, that France does not undertake to deliver planes to Ukraine. “I didn’t talk about planes, I talked about missiles and I talked about training”, he nuances. And to add: “We are not waging war on Russia, we are helping Ukraine to resist against the Russian assailant. Which means that we are not delivering weapons that would make it possible to reach the ground Russian or to attack Russia”.
According to Emmanuel Macron, “France’s strategy is simple: to help Ukraine to resist, to organise, when it chooses, a counter-offensive in order to be able to bring everyone back to the negotiating table and under conditions that ‘she will have chosen, to build a lasting peace for her.”
He also mentioned, without further details, the training of Ukrainian troops “who will be in charge of leading the counter-offensive and resisting”, in particular to “repair vehicles, guns”. “That’s also what Ukraine needs,” he pleaded, while France is sometimes accused of doing less than other major European countries like the United Kingdom and Germany. regarding arms deliveries to Kiev.
