"If the situation requires it, we are ready for combat starting this evening to protect the French people and the country's vital interests," he told the newspaper in an interview published on Monday.
The French army is undoubtedly prepared for high-intensity warfare with a peer adversary, the general added. A force of 20,000 soldiers is on standby, some of whom are currently deployed abroad, including in Lebanon, Iraq, Estonia and Romania. French instructors have been training Ukrainian soldiers in France and Poland.
The general said that the army's main objective was to develop an ability to adapt to new methods of warfare.
Earlier, Schill said in his op-ed in March that the French army was ready for the "toughest" engagements after French President Emmanuel Macron repeatedly suggested that Europe should send troops to Ukraine.