Zelensky, Macron discuss use of frozen Russian assets to boost Ukraine’s defense

Zelensky said this during a joint press conference with the French President in Paris, responding to a question from an Ukrinform correspondent.

“First of all, regarding financing. President Macron essentially already mentioned this — there are the SAFE programs (Security Action for Europe), and there are ERA programs (financing for Ukraine under the ERA loan mechanism involving the G7 countries and the EU). SAFE is used more for co-production. Even within the Rafale program, we are considering the possibility, if we are technically ready, of eventually co-producing certain components of these aircraft. And this is very important for us,” Zelensky said.

He also stressed the importance of cooperation in drone production: “The same applies to drone co-production. We want to, and we will, use the SAFE program in this direction.”

The Ukrainian President also spoke about frozen Russian assets.

“As for frozen assets or the reparations loan — we discussed that we really want this, and we are counting on it. I believe that, in the end, we will be able to reach an agreement and push this matter through, so that Russian assets are used specifically for the European defense package, for Ukrainian production, and for most of our air-defense systems from the United States. Therefore, I believe it is fair to use frozen assets for those projects that President Macron and I discussed today,” Zelensky noted.

As reported earlier, on Monday, the Presidents of Ukraine and France, Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron, signed a declaration of intent on cooperation regarding Ukraine's acquisition of French defense equipment.