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France refuses to share data with Ukraine about flights over Belarus — media

The French ministry of armed forces refused to comment on these data

PARIS, April 21. /TASS/. Paris has refused to share any details with Kiev about warplanes or drones flying over Belarus, France’s Le Monde daily reported on Friday.

According to the daily, Ukraine previously asked France to provide it with Belarus’ digital terrain evaluation data (DTED), which describes details of the terrain, including such obstacles as high voltage lines. "This includes all tactical data needed for low-altitude flights or flights at night or in conditions of poor visibility," a source in the military circles said.

The French ministry of armed forces refused to comment on these data.

However, "Paris has vowed that its support [for Kiev] will be unwavering as long as it was only about the defense of Ukrainian territory and stressed that any participation in combat operations on another countries’ territory is out of the question." According to Le Monde, it is highly likely that Ukraine already asked members of the coalition to provide the digital map. Kiev approached Paris with this request only after being rebuffed by everyone else, the newspaper surmised.

In an interview with the France-2 television channel in October 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris was "sharing intelligence data to help Ukrainians defend themselves.".