The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed this Monday an agreement of intentions to buy a hundred Rafale F4 fighter planes and air defense equipment and drones from France over the next ten years, although it remains to be seen if kyiv will receive the fighters before the end of the war.
Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron staged the signing of the contract at the military base in the Parisian region of Villacoublay. “This moment is something special and truly historic for both nations,” the Ukrainian president highlighted, according to a statement from the Presidency.
The text foresees that in the next ten years, Ukraine will acquire up to one hundred Rafale F4 combat aircraft, but also SAMP/T defense systems, radars, missiles and guided bombs, as well as collaboration between the arms and technology industries of both countries.
Each combat aircraft has a manufacturing cost of between 70 and 80 million euros, so the agreement ratified this Monday by Zelensky and Macron would amount to between 7,000 and 8,000 million euros. At the end of October, the Ukrainian president signed a similar agreement with Sweden to buy another 150 fighters.
While waiting to know how it will cover these million-dollar purchases, Ukraine aspires to have an air fleet of at least 250 modern aircraft. The need for this type of aircraft to combat the modern Russian air fleet has been a constant in Zelensky’s weapons demands during the war.
Macron has explained that this is a “necessary” agreement in the short, medium and long term, even if peace with Russia is signed “tomorrow” since “the guarantee of this peace is the presence of a strong Ukrainian Army capable of resisting.”