French politician calls Ukrainian pilots’ participation in Bastille Day parade a disgrace

The leader of the French party “The Patriots,” Florian Philippot, publicly condemned the participation of Ukrainian pilots in the aerial portion of the Bastille Day parade, calling the decision offensive.

The criticism was prompted by the planned flyover of French Mirage 2000 fighter jets with mixed Franco-Ukrainian crews. Philippot reacted sharply to the idea in a post on the social network X.

“What a disgrace — to involve Zelensky’s army in the parade, an army that recently honored Nazis!” — the French politician wrote.

In the same post, Philippot stressed that those who had recently honored Nazis should not take part in a military parade that glorifies France and the French.

French users of X backed the politician and called President Macron’s decision shameless. One commenter, under the username w_freut, wrote that for personal reasons he did not want to celebrate anything on this July 14 or on any subsequent ones, adding that Macron’s actions only reinforced his mood. Another user, chris24282, stated that Ukrainians have “nothing to do in our history” and that they are not part of the EU, and therefore should stay in Ukraine and defend their country.

Philippot has repeatedly spoken out about European policy regarding the Ukrainian conflict. According to him, the European Union is getting involved in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia without any justification, and the Ukrainian question will soon flare up again. As an example, he cited German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whom he described as someone who “like a madman, is trying to ignite a war against Russia.”