Zelenskyy asks Britain for fighter planes to ensure victory
Leader addresses both houses of Parliament
— In his second trip abroad since the Russian invasion of his country almost a year ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday urged Britain to deliver warplanes to ensure a victory that would “change the world.”
Speaking to both houses of Parliament, Zelenskyy said that when he visited the United Kingdom two years ago, he thanked officials for the “delicious English tea ... and I will be leaving Parliament today thanking all of you in advance for powerful English planes.”
After the United States, Britain is the largest donor of military assistance to Ukraine. It has committed $2.8 billion so far, according to a recent parliamentary briefing paper, and has pledged to match that in 2023.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday that 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers had come to Britain for training — and dozens more arrived last week to learn to master the Challenger 2 tanks that his government has promised to deliver next month. Going forward, he announced, training would be extended to Ukrainian marines and fighter jet pilots. The government also announced a fresh round of sanctions that targeted “Putin’s war machine and financial networks.”
But while Sunak said “everything is on the table,” committing fighter jets is something Britain and other Western allies have been reluctant to do.
“When it comes to fighter combat aircraft, they are of course part of the conversation,” Sunak said in a joint news conference at a British training camp. “That’s why we’ve announced today that we will be training Ukrainian air force on NATO standard platforms, because the first step in being able to provide this advanced aircraft is to have soldiers or aviators who are capable of using them.”
Sunak’s spokesperson said the prime minister had asked the defense secretary, Ben Wallace, to investigate “what jets we might be able to give, but, to be clear, this is a long-term solution rather than a short-term capability.”