Ukraine to buy 100 French fighter jets to strengthen its defenses as Russia continues its attacks and takes more ground

Smiling on the tarmac of an air base outside Paris, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday signed a deal with French President Emmanuel Macron for his country to buy up to 100 of France’s most advanced Rafale fighter jets over the next decade.

The aircraft is the best military aircraft France has for air-to-air combat, missile interception and longer-range strikes, capabilities that are crucial to defending Ukraine’s cities from Relentless Russian missile and drone attacks entering winter.

“It will be the largest air defense, one of the largest in the world,” Zelenskyy told reporters after signing the letter of intent for the purchase with Macron at the Villacoublay military air base. The Ukrainian president has pressured his Western partners for months to bolster the country’s air defense capabilities amid relentless Russian missile and drone attacks.

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Overnight, the Russian military launched more than 100 more missiles and drones into Ukraine, killing at least three people in the eastern Kharkiv region and attacking energy facilities in the southern Odessa region, leaving thousands of homes without power, according to Ukrainian officials.

There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin to the Franco-Ukrainian military agreement, which both Paris and kyiv touted as a historic moment.

“Today marks a significant, truly historic moment for our nations – France and Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post, adding that the joint defense deal “allows Ukraine to acquire military equipment from France’s defense industrial and technological base, including 100 Rafale F4 aircraft by 2035 for Ukraine’s combat aviation, SAMP/T air defense systems, air defense radars, air-to-air missiles and aerial bombs.”

“Joint projects between our defense sectors will also begin this year,” Zelenskyy said. “We will co-produce interceptor drones and work on the development critical technologies and components which can be integrated into Ukrainian drones. New planes, new reinforcements, new steps to strengthen our army and our country. “I am deeply grateful to France, to President Emmanuel Macron and to all the French people.”

Macron posted a photo of the two leaders smiling in front of a Rafale plane, with the flags of both nations as a backdrop. The caption, in both French and Ukrainian, read simply: “Great day.”

The presidents also visited the headquarters of a nascent multinational force for postwar Ukraine, just west of Paris, in Mont Valérian. The plan is for military officers from countries called the “Coalition of the Willing” to be based at the installation to oversee tactical and operational arrangements in Ukraine when the war finally ends.

The United Kingdom and France have effectively co-led the informal coalition, which now has 34 countries as members.

Zelenskyy is scheduled to travel to Spain on Tuesday, where he is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI to secure additional support for Ukraine’s defenses.