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UKRAINE

Macron urges French defence firms to ramp up production

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday urged defence manufacturers to boost production and innovation as Europe struggles to increase arms supplies to buttress Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and French Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu (C) inspect a Caesar self-propelled artillery system during a visit to the Cherbourg naval base
French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and French Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu (C) inspect a Caesar self-propelled artillery system during a visit to the Cherbourg naval base, as part of the president's New Year's wishes to the French army, in Cherbourg, northwestern France, on January 19, 2024. (Photo by Christophe PETIT TESSON / POOL / AFP)

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Macron has pushed the defence industry to switch to “war economy mode”, reiterating his call during a visit to the Cherbourg naval base in northwestern France.

“We must amplify the transformation we have begun” to respond more quickly to Ukraine’s needs in its war against Russia, Macron said in his New Year’s address to the French armed forces.

“We can’t let Russia think that it can win,” Macron added, warning that “a Russian victory would mean the end of European security”.

“We must never again be satisfied with production deadlines that extend over several years,” the president said.

He said defence manufacturers were expected to ramp up speed and volume as well as innovate.

Macron praised France’s “high quality” weapons but stressed that the country had not produced or innovated enough in the past, the “comfortable years” that he said provoked “a form of self-satisfied numbness”.

“This world no longer allows that,” he said.

Macron said some defence firms had been slow to understand “the importance of being able to deliver quickly” and had “over the last year and a half sometimes missed out on contracts, which I regret”.

On Thursday, Ukraine warned that its army faced a “very real and pressing” ammunition shortage.

The European Union had promised to deliver one million shells by early 2024, but European Parliament lawmakers say only 300,000 have been delivered so far.

A French Senate report published Wednesday said Paris and other European governments were “not up to the challenge” of meeting Ukraine’s ammunition requirements.

Last year France adopted a 413-billion-euro ($450 billion) military budget for 2024-2030, its most significant spending increase in decades.

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UKRAINE

France to transfer Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine

France will transfer Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of a new military cooperation with Kyiv as it fights the Russian invasion, President Emmanuel Macron announced.

France to transfer Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine

“Tomorrow we will launch a new cooperation and announce the transfer of Mirage 2000-5,” fighter jets to Ukraine made by French manufacturer Dassault and train their Ukrainian pilots in France, Macron told French TV.

Macron said he would offer to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when the two meet for talks at the Elysée Palace in Paris on Friday that the pilots be trained from this summer.

“You normally need between five, six months [training]. So by the end of the year there will be pilots. The pilots will be trained in France,” he said.

He did not specify how many of the fighter jets would be delivered, and the defence ministry did not elaborate when contacted by AFP.

Macron said Ukraine faced a ‘huge challenge’ training soldiers as it sought to mobilise tens of thousands more troops to go to the front.

He said France would equip and train a brigade of 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers so they can defend themselves when they return to Ukraine from training.

Kyiv has been pushing Europe to increase its military support, with Russia in recent months gaining the upper hand on the battlefield.

Zelensky’s visit to France, where on Thursday he attended ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and crossed paths with US President Joe Biden, is seen as a crucial time to drum up more help.

Macron said Ukraine has asked Western allies to send military instructors to train its forces on its soil to meet the growing challenge to build up troop numbers.

“The Ukrainian president and his minister of defence asked all the allies – 48 hours ago in an official letter – saying ‘we need you to train us quicker and that you do this on our soil’,” Macron said.

There had been speculation that Macron could swiftly announce the sending of French instructors to Ukraine, even after his talks with Zelensky on Friday.

But he said France and its allies would come together and decide and also emphasised that he did not believe any such moves by Paris were ‘escalatory’.

“We are working with our partners and we will act on the basis of a collective decision,” he said.

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