Ukraine will get up to 100 of France’s Rafale F4 fighter jets as well as advanced air defence systems in a major deal to boost Kyiv’s ability to protect itself against deadly Russian attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the move as “historic”, after signing the letter of intent with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at an air base near Paris.
Deliveries of the Rafale F4’s are planned to be completed by 2035, while the joint production of interceptor drones is starting this year.
Financial details are yet to be worked out, but reports say France plans to attract EU financing and also access frozen Russian assets – a controversial move that has split the 27-member bloc.
“This is a strategic agreement which will last for 10 years starting from the next year,” Zelensky said at a joint briefing with Macron on Monday.
Ukraine would also get “very strong French radars”, eight air defence systems and other advanced weaponry, he added.
Zelensky stressed that using such advanced systems “means protecting someone’s life… this is very important”.
Russia has in recent months increased its drone and missile attacks against Ukraine, targeting energy and rail infrastructure and causing massive blackouts across the country.
Dozens of civilians have been killed in the strikes, in what Kyiv and its Western allies describe as war crimes. In the latest overnight Russian missile attack, three people were killed and 15 injured, in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Balakliya, local officials said.
Speaking alongside Zelensky, Macron said: “We’re planning Rafales, 100 Rafales – that’s huge. That’s what’s needed for the regeneration of the Ukrainian military”.
The French president added that he wanted to help Ukraine prepare for whatever was coming next.
These Rafale fighter jets are seen as crucial to protecting Ukraine’s skies, because the country is almost powerless in preventing long-range air strikes on its border towns and cities.
“The Russians are using 6000 glide bombs per month,” Serhiy Kuzhan, a Ukrainian defence analyst, told the BBC. “It would be important to have a French air to air system, with a 200km range, because Russians have their own system with a range of 230km.”
While this announcement between Kyiv and Paris is sizeable, Justin Bronk from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) points out: “The difference they’ll make will depend on the timeframe and the missiles that come with them”.
This is a long-term political agreement, rather than a detailed purchase order, so few are expecting this announcement to dramatically change the dynamics of Russia’s grinding invasion.
The promises of Western military hardware are only as effective as the training and logistics they come with. Whether it’s a German-made Leopard 2 Tank or an American F16 fighter jet, they all require intensive training, sizable support crews and a lot of spare parts.
With the Rafales, further complexities arise around the question of who pays. It’s thought France will dip into its own budget contributions for Kyiv, as well as look as joint EU borrowing mechanisms to help pay for the deal.
But what you hear privately admitted in EU’s corridors of power in Brussels, is that the money is slowing running out.
The bloc has agreed to help support Ukraine’s battered economy for the next two years, but there is less consensus on whether to unlock €140bn ($162bn; £123bn) of frozen Russian assets to help support Ukraine financially and militarily.
The proposals are currently illegal under international law, and some members are nervous about the prospect of having to pay Russia back when the war ends.
Ukraine’s air force is already using France’s Mirage warplanes as well as US-made F-16s. Kyiv has also recently provisionally agreed to obtain Sweden’s Gripen fighter jets.
After France, Zelensky will travel to Spain to seek further military and other support for Ukraine.
Over the weekend, he secured a gas deal with Greece. Vital supplies of US liquefied natural gas are now expected to start flowing into Ukraine this winter via a pipeline across the Balkans.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory and Russian troops have been making slow advances along the vast front line – despite reported huge combat casualties.
