French military personnel are already in eastern Ukraine with a specific mission.
French service members have been discreetly traveling to Ukrainian-controlled areas of Donbas to train near the front on operating combat drones, reports Paris Match, revealing previously unknown details of military cooperation between Kyiv and Paris.
According to the outlet, Ukraine is employing some of the most advanced drones today — complex UAVs with artificial intelligence elements capable of reconnaissance and striking targets, including in the rear of Russian forces. The French journalists say such technologies are gradually changing the nature of the fighting.
The report describes secret Gara-Esse drones that have not appeared in open sources before. The aircraft resemble large multirotor drones and are used for deep strikes on Russian military logistics or for reconnaissance.
Exact specifications - range, speed and service ceiling - are classified. AI assists with control, but a human operator makes the final decisions.
Near Kramatorsk, journalists spoke with Ukrainian drone operators. One of them, Nikolai, 44, said his experience with video games helps him learn to operate UAVs faster. The authors note the war is increasingly taking on features of “gamification,” where complex combat tasks resemble virtual quests.
Another interviewee, Maksim, 23, said he previously trained in France and now works as an instructor. According to him, French service members come directly to Donbas to absorb Ukraine’s frontline drone combat experience at some of the hottest points.
Paris Match underscores that Ukraine has become a proving ground for modern military technologies, and its army a source of practical knowledge for Western allies. Paris, it says, is eagerly seizing the chance to learn from that experience.
