France delivers first fighter jets to Ukraine

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/02/06/france-delivers-first-fighter-jets-to-ukraine_6737853_4.html

by LeMonde_en

22 comments

  1. two years to late, but better late then never.

  2. And the training took just 6 months, without blaming the pilots because “they do not speak english well enough”, without usage restrictions and without making other countries postpone giving their airplanes because of an escalation.

    Well done, France and thank you! 🇺🇦 🤝🇫🇷

  3. We should follow suit.

    As soon as we get our F-35 replacements, just park our Tornados over the border so they can use them.

  4. The question is….how effectively can those pilots operate French Mirages 2000? With only few months of training? mm…..

  5. >**France’s defense minister confirmed the first delivery of Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets on Thursday, without going into details about how many were in the consignment.**

    >France on Thursday, February 6, delivered a first consignment of Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine to help Kyiv defend its airspace against Russia, Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said. “The first of these aircraft have arrived in Ukraine today,” Lecornu said on X, without saying how many had been delivered. After France helped train Ukrainian pilots over recent months, “they will now help defend Ukraine’s skies,” he added.

    >Last June, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would transfer Mirage 2000-5 aircraft to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of military cooperation with Kyiv. Of the 26 Mirage 2000-5 aircraft owned by the French air force, six were to be transferred to Ukraine, according to a budget report published by France’s Assemblée Nationale.

    >The French defense ministry neither denied nor confirmed the figure for security reasons.

    >Ukrainian pilots and mechanics have been trained in eastern France to use the jets, which have undergone modifications including to combat Russian jamming.

    >France announced the delivery of the first fighter jets as talk of a negotiated end to the nearly three-year war has risen with Donald Trump back in the White House and Ukraine’s troops struggling on the battlefield in the east. In August, Ukraine received its first consignment of US-made F-16 fighter jets.

  7. probably too little too late. Did the F-16 make a lot of difference?

  8. They said that Ukraine couldnt handle more than one airplane system. Thats why Sweden was not allowed to send Gripen. But appearantly Mirage planes are ok? 🤔

  12. With Trump 2.0, Ukraine really needs strong allies.🇺🇦

  13. Great News!
    Do we know the impact of the F-16s?
    Are there still any airplanes left?

  14. Can’t help but wonder though, if we – Europe and, I guess, the US – had given everything we could the moment Russia invaded Ukraine if things would have been quite different today.

    I can’t claim to be an expert but it just feels like this was inevitable eventually and doing this way earlier would have been better for everyone other than Putin.

  15. Why do the french get the most hate out of all of us when they’re the closest to the model eu country?

  16. Took them long enough.

    better late than never i suppose.

  17. This is great news! I think the swedish jets will arrive soon too. The parts have already been sent with the last aid package from Sweden, so it is nothing but natural to except that.

  22. No biased stuff since i am french but France government really do their best these days:

    they stood up against elon musk, trump and USA bullshit, encourage Europe countries to be more united and prepared against any foreign conflicts, defended denmark, responded to US Tariffs, promote solidarity etc.. and now we are sending fighter jets to Ukraine

    We might have a lot of issues and weird stuff going on, but i am glad our government is still trying to get Europe together and stay strong and united no matter what

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