A military expert pointed out the problems of using Mirage-2000 fighters by the AFU

The prospects for the use of the Mirage-2000 fighter by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are about the same as in the case of the US F-16s - their use requires not only airfields and pilots, but also technical capabilities and specialists for their maintenance, which, most likely, Kiev does not have. This was stated by military expert, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin in a conversation with Izvestia on February 6.

Earlier this week, the French defense minister said that the first batch of Mirage-2000 planes transferred by Paris to Kiev had arrived in Ukraine. He also noted that the airplanes are operated by Ukrainian pilots who were trained in France.

"The Mirage-2000 is about the same as the F-16 - with about the same characteristics. Not better, not worse. In general, a single-engine airplane, which is inferior to our Su-30, Su-35, I'm not talking about the Su-57. <...> Besides, what Lecornu says should be divided by 10, at least, because not everything he says is true," Litovkin commented.

According to him, it is not a fact that the airplanes are already on the territory of Ukraine, they have not yet been seen in the case. It is likely that the equipment may be based at airfields in Poland or Romania, he admitted. Also the interlocutor of the publication emphasized that for the use of the aircraft need not only airfields and runways, but also the so-called technical-operational point, where the aircraft can be prepared for departure and serviced after landing.

"There should be a plant where aviation kerosene is cleaned before it is poured into the plane, where high-pressure air is created for the plane. But most importantly, there must be people who can do all this, and for this they need to know English or French aviation engineering, because all instructions and flow charts are written in these languages. In Ukraine, I am convinced, there are no such specialists, and they need 50-60 people," the expert concluded.

Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov, for his part , called the delivery of Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine a free disposal. In his opinion, instead of "sawing" the equipment at home, it is cheaper to write it off to Ukraine under the guise of "another million euros of aid".

Before that, on January 28, the head of the French Foreign Ministry, Jean-Noel Barrot, said that the country plans to supply Ukraine with Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets by the end of March 2025. In November 2024, it was reported that France intends to transfer six Mirage 2000-5 fighter j ets to Ukraine "with full support".

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine against the backdrop of Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.