Mirage 2000 fighter jets. Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo / EPA-EFE

Ukraine has received the first batch of promised Mirage 2000 fighter jets from Paris, France’s Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu announced on Thursday.

Lecornu said that Ukrainian pilots had received several months of training on how to fly the fighter jets. He did not specify how many aircraft Kyiv had received, though French newspaper La Tribune speculated last year that Paris would most likely transfer between six and 12 aircraft.

The minister first announced in October that the Mirage fighters would be delivered to Ukraine in early 2025. He noted that they would be fitted out with the latest technology, including air-to-ground launch systems and electronic warfare equipment.

However, there has been some scepticism about the value of the aircraft from inside Ukraine, with a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force saying in September 2023 that Mirage 2000 fighters were outdated and the Armed Forces of Ukraine could do without them. Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has also said that the aircraft would not give Kyiv air superiority over the Russian Su-35.

Military analyst David Sharp told Novaya Europe that the Mirage was on the whole inferior to the American F-16s that Ukraine began receiving in mid 2024, though he did say that one of their few advantages was that they could deploy Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles, which Ukraine could use to strike Russian military facilities.