(Associated Press) As Zelenskyy visits for D-Day, Macron promises Ukraine Mirage aircraft to fend off Russian attacks - Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery and a fuel depot in Russian border regions, officials in the targeted areas said Thursday, in Kyiv’s ongoing effort to disrupt the Kremlin’s war machine and as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought further Western support in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.
- Zelenskyy was due to join world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, at D-Day commemorations in France on Thursday. On Friday, he was due to meet with French officials.
- French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that France will provide Ukraine with its Mirage combat aircraft to be able to defend their country against Russian aggression.
- Macron told French public broadcaster he will announce on Friday “a new cooperation with Ukraine and the sale of Mirage 2005, the French-made combat aircraft which will “allow Ukraine to protect its soil, its airspace” against Russian attacks.
- France will also start training Ukrainian pilots, Macron said and reiterated that Ukraine should be allowed to use weapons provided by its Western allies to target Russian military targets and “neutralize the points from which (the country) is being attacked.”
|