French President Emmanuel Macron announced on September 22, 2026, the signing of a contract to supply Ukraine with air defense systems, including radars and interceptor missiles. The French leader shared this in a post on the social network X, referencing an earlier phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to RBC-Ukraine, Macron did not disclose the exact quantity of equipment to be transferred or the specific delivery timelines, limiting himself to confirming the fact of the signing of the relevant agreement.
Context: strikes on energy infrastructure
The French president justified the need to strengthen Ukraine's air defense by the growing threat posed by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. According to Macron, such strikes pose a direct danger to millions of Ukrainian households, which may be left without heating and electricity ahead of the heating season. This factor, in his assessment, determines the urgency of expanding Ukraine's air-defense shield and the need for additional supplies of means for detecting and intercepting aerial targets.
Kyiv's reaction: SAMP/T, EU loan, and production localization
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commenting on the outcome of his meeting with Macron, stated that Ukraine is ready to provide additional SAMP/T air defense systems and missiles for them from its own financial resources within the framework of an European Union loan. Moreover, according to him, Kyiv and its partners continue working on the possibility of directly manufacturing SAMP/T systems and the corresponding missiles on Ukrainian territory. This direction, Zelenskyy emphasized, is considered a strategic element of long-term security and of reducing dependence on supply logistics chains.
The FREYJA program and joint anti-ballistic defense
A separate item of discussion was the joint anti-ballistic program FREYJA, on which Ukraine and its partners continue to work. Zelenskyy expressed confidence that the first results in this area are expected as early as the current, 2026, year. The program involves the development and integration of means to counter ballistic threats, which goes beyond classical air defense and touches on issues of the region's strategic defense.
Winter support and the G7 energy format
Macron also stated that France intends to support Ukraine during the upcoming winter period, when the load on the power system traditionally increases. To coordinate efforts to ensure Kyiv's energy resilience, he said, the "G7" energy format is planned to be involved. The specific mechanisms and volumes of support within this format were not disclosed in the post.
Dialogue with Trump: energy ceasefire and a Black Sea moratorium
Separately, Macron reported that he had discussed the issue of supporting Ukraine with US President Donald Trump. Among the topics of the conversation, he said, were the prospect of a so-called energy ceasefire and a possible moratorium on military operations in the Black Sea. France, as the French leader emphasized, supports these initiatives; however, Macron did not announce that a specific agreement on their implementation had been reached. He stressed that the relevant issues should become part of further negotiations, which, in his wording, should lead to a "just and lasting peace."
Additional context: the dispute over Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
Against the backdrop of the discussion of military and political topics, Macron also publicly stated that the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic are French territory, and that any claims by US President Donald Trump to these islands are unfounded. This statement came in the context of remarks previously made by the American leader regarding sovereignty over the aforementioned archipelagos.
