“Madame Le Pen does not master certain details”: France “can only gain” from its “cooperation” with Ukraine, retorts Volodymyr Zelensky

France “can only gain” from its “cooperation” with Ukraine, particularly in terms of weapons technologies, President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Thursday, in response to Marine Le Pen who announced that she would cut aid to kyiv if she were elected president. Presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen said on Wednesday that she would “maintain financial aid to Ukraine for six months” if she is elected president in May 2027, but that beyond that she would “cease” financial support because, according to her, France “no longer has the means”.

“We give back,” declared Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with the Financial Times published Thursday, estimating that “Madame Le Pen does not master certain details well.” “The technological experience of our army is very important for our partners (...) And French industry can only gain thanks to these technologies, this cooperation and this co-production,” he underlines.

“We have no alternative, we must fight”

The Ukrainian leader cites the example of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T air defense systems, to which “many modifications” have been made in response to the reality on the Ukrainian ground, as well as the Franco-British Scalp/Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles. “In my opinion, it’s a win-win. For us, we have no alternative: we must fight. But for Europe, it is even more of a gain, because it obtains security, and it acquires this experience.

Before the war, “all of Europe (...) spent billions on tanks, armored vehicles, a lot of ammunition and equipment which are no longer useful after the last two years. Our experience gives the experience of this war to countries which will not have to spend billions on tanks, etc.,” adds Volodymyr Zelensky, according to whom “the price to pay is not as high as that of human lives.”

According to figures from the German Kiel Institute, France has paid 27 billion euros to kyiv since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This sum is broken down into 7.9 billion euros in bilateral aid and 19 billion through its contributions to European aid.