Zelensky asks his allies for fighter planes on his second trip abroad

On his second trip abroad since the Russian invasion began, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky urged his Western allies in London on Wednesday to provide him with fighter jets, which Britain will study but “in the long term.”

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During a meeting with the ‘premier’ Rishi Sunak, Zelensky “underlined the importance of Ukraine receiving the necessary weapons from the allies to stop the Russian offensive.” At night, the Ukrainian president will visit his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to also request more arms support.

In front of the British parliamentarians gathered in a packed Westminter Hall, the enormous room where the funeral chapel of Elizabeth II was in September, the Ukrainian president insisted that these They must include fighters.

“I ask you and the world for simple but very important words: fighter jets for Ukraine, wings for freedom,” he said.

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“We are not excluding anything,” including the delivery of planes, Rishi Sunak said at a press conference after visiting with Zelensky a military center in Dorset, in southern England, where the British army trains Ukrainian soldiers.

Sunak also indicated that the British Challenger 2 tanks promised by London will be operational “next month” on Ukrainian soil.

The UK is the second country the Ukrainian leader has visited, after the US in December, since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.

Thus began a European mini-tour that at night will take him to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and the head of the German government Olaf Scholz.

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On Thursday he must travel to Brussels, where a summit of leaders of the European Union begins. “We will meet with the European leaders tomorrow,” Zelensky said. “When you only have ten NATO armored vehicles against tens of thousands of Russian tanks what are your chances?” he asked.

Germany recently agreed to send main battle tanks and on Tuesday announced along with the Netherlands and Denmark that they will deliver “at least 100 Leopard 1 A5 tanks” in “the next few months.”

But other countries that have pledged appear to be dragging their feet. Experts agree that Russia is preparing a major offensive for late winter or early spring, with the aim of conquering the entirety of Donbas, which it now partially occupies.

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Updated maps of Russia, including regions of Ukraine it claims to have annexed: Zaporizhia, Kherson, Lugansk and Donetsk, went on sale in Moscow bookstores on Tuesday.

Pilot training could take years

The UK, hitherto reluctant to supply Ukraine with Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets, has said it will look into that possibility, though it does not consider it immediate.

Russia maintained, for its part, that “a response to any hostile measure taken by the British side,” according to a statement released by Russian news agencies.

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“The prime minister has instructed the defense minister to look at what aircraft we could provide, but this is clearly a long-term solution rather than a short-term capability, which is what Ukraine needs most at the moment.” a spokesman said.

London will bear the responsibility of a “bloody harvest” as well as the “political and military consequences that result”, it added.

Last week, Sunak considered that Ukrainian pilots would need “months” or even “years” to learn how to fly the fighters used by NATO countries.

But on Wednesday he proposed expanding the training he already offers to Ukrainian troops in the UK “by extending it to fighter pilots to ensure that Ukraine can defend its airspace in the future.”

AFP