PARIS (AP) — Ukraine signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 Rafale warplanes from France, the Ukrainian Embassy and the French president’s office said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron signed the document on Monday stating that Ukraine is considering the possibility of buying French defense equipment, including Rafale jet fighters, Macron’s office said. It did not provide further details.
Zelenskyy was on his ninth visit to Paris since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. His talks are meant to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses as the country enters another winter under Russian bombardment of its energy infrastructure and other targets.
On Monday morning, Macron and Zelenskyy visited an air base in the Paris outskirts, before heading to the headquarters of a multinational force, dubbed the “coalition of the willing,” that France and Britain have been preparing with more than 30 other nations to police an eventual ceasefire in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday that he looked forward to a “historic deal with France in Paris to strengthen our combat aviation and air defense.”
“We expect the Rafale, 100 Rafales, which is enormous but which is necessary for the regeneration of the Ukrainian army,” Macron said. “We have in the past months deployed our Mirage, and so we’re preparing the next generation. It’s also an opportunity for the Rafale and for Dassault.”
Fresh air-defense capabilities, in the form of new-generation SAMP/T systems also are part of the French-Ukrainian cooperation, Macron added.
The updated weapon is being tested now for use by the French armed forces next year.
“We’re very quickly going to deploy it on the operational terrain,” Macron said. “It’s an opportunity for us to go faster, and to share also this technology with Ukraine.”
Last month, Ukraine and Sweden signed an agreement exploring the possibility of Ukraine buying up to 150 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets over the next decade or more. Ukraine has already received American-made F-16s and French Mirages.
Defense News writer Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris contributed to this report.
