Zelensky, Macron discuss bolstering Ukrainian air defenses, drone production

Zelensky shared details of the conversation on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.

“I had a productive and substantive conversation with President of France Emmanuel Macron. We discussed Ukraine’s key defense needs, first and foremost, strengthening our air defense. We need reliable protection against Russian missiles and drones. We talked about the supply of additional missiles for the SAMP/T and Crotale systems,” he wrote.

Zelensky also noted that the two leaders discussed at length the financing of Ukrainian drone production.

“France is ready to help us with this, we will work together. We spoke about the training of Ukrainian pilots on Mirage jets. We highly appreciate that France will continue the training, which will allow us to prepare even more pilots,” he said.

The conversation also touched on the training of Ukrainian pilots on Mirage fighter jets. “We deeply appreciate that France will continue their training, enabling us to prepare even more pilots,” Zelensky added.

Additionally, the Ukrainian president informed Macron about the outcome of the third round of talks with the Russian side in Istanbul.

“We managed to agree on a new prisoner exchange. We are awaiting a response to our proposal to hold a meeting at the highest level by the end of August. Representatives from Europe must be certainly present at this meeting. We had a detailed discussion about Ukraine’s path to European integration. We agreed to work on finding solutions that will allow the first negotiation cluster to be opened as soon as possible. It is important that Ukraine and Moldova continue to move forward in sync,” Zelensky said.

Finally, Zelensky briefed Macron on efforts to safeguard Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure from Russian influence.

“We also discussed the work of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure, which is fully operational. The presidential bill guarantees the independence and effectiveness of anti-corruption bodies and prevents Russian influence on them,” he said.

Earlier reports said that French companies had expressed interest in establishing joint arms production with Ukrainian partners, including drone manufacturing.