Smiling on the tarmac of an airbase outside Paris, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a deal with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday for his country to buy as many as 100 of France’s most advanced Rafale fighter jets over the next decade.
The aircraft is the best military jet that France has for air-to-air combat, missile interceptions and for longer-range strikes — capabilities that are crucial to defend Ukraine’s cities from Russia’s relentless missile and drone attacks going into the winter.
“It will be the greatest air defense — one of the greatest in the world,” Zelenskyy told reporters after he signed the letter of intent for the purchase with Macron at the Villacoublay military airbase. The Ukrainian president has pushed his Western partners for months to bolster the country’s air defense capabilities amid relentless Russian missile and drone strikes.
Overnight, Russia’s military launched more than 100 more missiles and drones at Ukraine, killing at least three people in the eastern Kharkiv region and hitting energy facilities in the southern Odesa region, knocking out electricity to thousands of homes, according to Ukrainian officials.
There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin to the French-Ukrainian military agreement, which both Paris and Kyiv touted as a landmark moment.
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“Today marks a significant moment, truly historic for both our nations — France and Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post, adding that the joint defense agreement, “enables Ukraine to procure military equipment from France’s defense industrial and technological base, including 100 Rafale F4 aircraft by 2035 for Ukraine’s combat aviation, SAMP/T air-defense systems, air-defense radars, air-to-air missiles, and aerial bombs.”
“Joint projects between our defense sectors will also begin this year,” Zelenskyy said. “We will co-produce interceptor drones and work on developing critical technologies and components that can be integrated into Ukrainian drones. New aircraft, new reinforcements, new steps to strengthen our army and our country. I am deeply grateful to France, President Emmanuel Macron, and all the French people.”
Macron posted a photo of the two leaders smiling in front of a Rafale jet, with the flags of both nations as a backdrop. The caption, in both French and Ukrainian, said simply: “Great day.”
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The presidents also visited the headquarters of a nascent multinational force for post-war Ukraine, just west of Paris at Mont Valérian. The plan is for military officers from the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” countries to be based at the facility to oversee tactical and operational arrangements in Ukraine when the war finally stops.
The U.K. and France have effectively co-led the informal coalition, which now counts 34 nations as members.
Zelenskyy is scheduled to travel to Spain on Tuesday, where he’s expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and King Felipe VI to rally additional support for Ukraine’s defenses.