Zelensky says he’s struck a key deal to have Ukraine’s pilots trained in France

KYIV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had struck a “very important agreement on training our pilots in France” during a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday. 

“Our coalition of modern fighters is becoming stronger,” he said in his nightly video address. Russia launched

a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

He did not elaborate on what training would be undertaken. France does not have the F-16 fighter jets which Ukraine was recently promised by Denmark and the Netherlands. It does, however, have French-made Rafale warplanes and previous-generation Mirage 2000 jets.

Mr Zelensky said he and Mr Macron also discussed what France could do to help protect the Ukrainian city and region of Odessa, which is critical to grain exports, but did not elaborate.

The Ukrainian ports of Reni and Izmail, which are the country’s two major ports on the Danube and in the region, have been repeatedly

attacked by Russian drones in recent weeks.

The Danube has been Ukraine’s main route for exporting grain since July, when Russia quit a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey that had given safe passage to Kyiv’s exports of grains, oilseeds and vegetables oils via the Black Sea.

The

Black Sea grain

deal

, reached

in July 2022

,

aimed to alleviate a global food crisis. Ukraine is a major producer of grains and oilseeds and the interruption to its exports with the outbreak of war in February that year pushed food prices to record highs.

The French Foreign Ministry said in August that it would reinforce its military support for Ukraine, notably in strengthening air defence capabilities.
REUTERS