Paris, Feb 6 (IANS) The first batch of Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France have arrived in Ukraine, said French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Thursday.
The fighter jets were flown by Ukrainian pilots who had been trained for several months in France, he said in a post on social media X.
However, Lecornu did not specify the number of the delivered or the total number of jets that France plans to deliver to Ukraine.
According to the French daily Le Monde, the French Air Force owns only a limited number of fighters — 26 Mirage 2000-5 jets out of around 200 Mirage and Rafale aircraft.
These fighters barely suffice for France to carry out all the missions for which it is responsible on a day-to-day basis, Xinhua news agency reported citing the Le Monde report.
On June 6, 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would provide Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine.
“We will launch a new cooperation and transfer Mirage 2000-5s,” said Macron. The French leader also promised to train a whole Ukrainian battalion of 4,500 troops, to be deployed on the battlefield.
He said the delivery of French fighter jets “is not a factor of escalation” and promised “these weapons will not be used to bomb civilians.” Additionally, Macron didn’t exclude the possibility of sending military instructors to Ukraine.
“There should be no taboo on this subject,” he said in an interview.
Mirage 2000 is a French multi-role, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter, manufactured by Dassault Aviation.
–IANS
int/as
