PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with France’s TF1 television on Monday that France is open to training Ukrainian fighter jet pilots in France and that those training programmes could start right away.
Asked about delivering warplanes to Ukraine, Macron said he had not discussed that issue with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during his visit to France this weekend.
“I have not talked about airplanes. I have talked about missiles. I have talked about training,” he said. Asked about training for Ukraine pilots on French warplanes, he said: “There are no taboos”.
Zelenskiy, delivering his nightly video address from a train returning him to Kyiv after a stop in London on Monday, said Britain and Poland had agreed to join a coalition that was being created to train Ukrainian pilots on modern Western aircraft.
“Britain — yes. Poland — yes. And I am sure France and other partners will join,” he said.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Elaine Monaghan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
