'Political Posture' – Analyst Calls Out Macron’s Promises to Ukraine Ahead of European Elections

President Emmanuel Macron, long considered perhaps Europe’s foremost anti-Russia hawk, committed to sending his country’s Mirage 2000 warplanes to Ukraine during an appearance on French television Thursday.

“The goal is to have the pilots and the jets in Ukraine by the end of the year,” said the leader, committing to a plan also involving the training of Ukrainian troops to operate the bomber this summer. The pilots will receive instruction as part of a French effort to train 4,500 soldiers for Kiev, the president also revealed.

The aircraft, a single-engine, delta wing jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation, had been requested by Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk earlier this year.

Macron had refused to offer the plane to Ukraine as recently as February while signing a bilateral agreement with Kiev that nonetheless granted Volodymyr Zelensky an extra €3 billion in additional lethal aid this year.

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The French president, who has repeatedly placed support for Ukraine as among his top priorities even as Russia has increasingly liberated more territory near the northern city of Kharkov. Recent reports suggest the Ukrainian military is nearing collapse amid personnel shortages and a lack of discipline and morale.

Although Macron has been perhaps the most aggressive of Europe’s leaders in supporting Ukraine’s war against Russia, his comments Thursday suggest he is “not in an escalation mood,” Poulin said.

“He's been promising some planes for Ukrainian forces, but he wasn't able to tell the number of planes,” Poulin argued. Macron also failed to clarify whether France would send military trainers to assist the Kiev regime, a proposal that has generated significant controversy in recent weeks as it would represent a major escalation of NATO countries’ support.

“There’s been a very blurry explanation of what the conflict would be, maybe because he knows that escalation is very dangerous for all parties given the latest declaration of Vladimir Putin saying that he could also provide some weapons to allies of Russia to strike allies of Ukraine,” Poulin added.

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President Macron said he would officially announce the new policy Friday when Zelensky visits France to take part in annual D-Day anniversary celebrations. This year’s commemoration has drawn controversy for not including officials from the Russian Federation. The Soviet Union experienced the greatest loss of life in liberating Europe from the Nazi regime with some 27 million Soviet troops dying in the effort.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian nationalists like Stepan Bandera, who is celebrated by the Kiev regime, formed an important part of the Nazis’ military force in Eastern Europe.

“A lot of the speeches from Joe Biden to Emmanuel Macron [were] referring to the situation in Ukraine, saying that this was about democracy, this was about fighting for liberties, and we have a sort of a moral duty towards Ukraine.”

“But if you listen to what was said tonight – nothing new in terms of the use of weapons from NATO into Russian territory,” the analyst continued. “And clearly, a lot was said mainly for a French audience because of the European elections that are taking place on Sunday. And Emmanuel Macron clearly wants to state that voting for his party is voting for Europe. And that is very important.”

“It's more, I think, a political posture than anything else,” he concluded about Macron’s comments. “Macron was not telling a lot about the plans, about the coalition and about the aid that is coming to Ukraine in the coming weeks.”

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