SVE NEWS & FRANCE24.COM Sharing Series — Zelensky to address French parliament after Macron promises transfer of warplanes to Ukraine

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday is set to address the French parliament. His speech comes a day after world leaders marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in World War II, and after French President Emmanuel Macron announced his country would provide Ukraine with an unspecified number of Mirage-2000 fighter jets. Macron also said France would train Ukrainian pilots as part of new military cooperation with Kyiv.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on at the international commemorative ceremony at Omaha Beach marking the 80th anniversary of the World War II D-Day Allied landings in Normandy in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, northwestern France, on June 6, 2024. © Miguel Medin, AFP

Zelensky will address the French National Assembly at 9:45am (0745 GMT). He is then due to visit the French-German arms group KNDS in Versailles, on the outskirts of Paris. At 5:30pm, Macron will host Zelensky for talks at the Élysée Palace, where the two leaders will hold a joint press conference.

Reporting from Kyiv, FRANCE 24 correspondent Gulliver Cragg said that all eyes will be on France’s fighter jet announcement, and how many aircraft it is prepared to send to Ukraine.

“Early reports suggest it would only be five of them, but there’s now a lot of speculation on the Ukrainian internet that France may be preparing to send all 27 of the Mirages that it has to Ukraine. That’s obviously a large and significant number,” he said.

Cragg said Ukrainian soldiers he has spoken to in recent months have said “even a small number would make quite a difference” on the ground.

He added that if France announces plans to send its instructors to Ukraine to train pilots, “it is definitely, symbolically, a very, very important step in terms of a Western ally of Ukraine’s recognition [and] of its involvement in the war”.

“If not at war with Russia – then certainly [it is] opposition to Russia.”

(FRANCE 24)