During a meeting with the ‘premier’ Rishi SunakZelensky “underlined the importance of Ukraine receiving the necessary weapons from the allies to stop the Russian offensive.”
Then, in front of the assembled British parliamentarians in a packed Westminter Hall, the huge room where the burning chapel of Elizabeth II was in September, insisted that these must include hunts.
“I ask you and the world for simple but very important words: fighter jets for Ukraine, wings for freedom,” he said.
“We are not excluding anything,” including the delivery of planes, Sunak said. in a subsequent press conference after visiting with Zelenski a military center in Dorset, in the south of 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.
European tour
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. On Thursday he is due to travel to Brussels, where a summit of European Union leaders 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 together with the Netherlands and Denmark that they will deliver “at least 100 tanks Leopard 1 A5” in “the next few months.” But other countries that had pledged appear to be holding off.
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.
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.
UK to look into sending fighter jets
He United Kingdom, hitherto reluctant to supply Ukraine with Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets, he said he would study that possibility, although he does not consider it immediate.
“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 right now.”a spokesman said.
Russia promised “a response to any hostile measures taken by the British side,” according to a statement carried by Russian news agencies. London will bear the responsibility of a “bloody harvest” as well as the “political and military consequences that result”, she added.
Last week, Sunak considered that the Ukrainian pilots would need “months” or even “years” to learn to drive the fighters used by the 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.”
The UK provided £2.3bn ($2.8bn) in military aid to Ukraine in 2022 and promised to maintain the same level this year, second in the world after the United States.
Coinciding with Zelensky’s visit, the British government, which has already sanctioned more than 1,300 Russian individuals and entities since the invasion of Ukraine, strengthened those sanctions to include “six entities supplying military material” and “eight individuals and one entity linked to financial networks” close to the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian president was also received by King Carlos IIIto whom he expressed his gratitude “for the warm welcome and for helping the Ukrainian citizens who took refuge from the war in the United Kingdom”.
Source: Ambito
