France will grant Ukraine licences to produce French missiles, Macron says

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that his country will grant Ukraine licences to produce French missiles.

Source: Macron at a joint press conference with the leaders of Ukraine, the UK and Germany on 13 July, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Macron pointed out that US President Donald Trump had already announced a decision to allow the licensed production of interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence systems.

Quote: "We, for our part, have decided to authorise the licensed production of Aster missiles used in the SAMP/T systems that France develops jointly with Italy. Several other countries have also taken similar decisions on transferring licences."

Details: The French president also said that during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, they approved a roadmap for bilateral cooperation to implement the agreements reached in November last year.

According to Macron, the roadmap covers air defence, with Ukraine set to acquire its first batch of next-generation SAMP/T batteries.

He added that they will "complement the systems and missiles that will be delivered in the coming weeks".

Zelenskyy thanked Macron for his readiness to provide Ukraine with additional air defence systems this year.

"Thank you, Emmanuel, personally for your willingness to grant these licences. This is a major step forward and will help us enormously. Licences for Aster and SCALP are important decisions," he said.

Background:

• On 8 July, Trump announced that the US will allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot systems.
• Zelenskyy also said that following the political agreement with Trump on a Patriot production licence, technical work to implement it should begin swiftly.
• Reuters reported that production of US interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence systems intended for Ukraine is most likely to be established in a European country, with Germany among the options under consideration.

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