Zelensky Takes Fighter Jet Bid to EU Leaders
Ukraine’s leader has called on EU leaders to provide fighter jets and arms for the war against Russia, on his second trip abroad since the war began.
“We have to enhance the dynamics of our co-operation, we have to do it faster than the aggressor,” said Volodymyr Zelensky.
He was earlier given a standing ovation at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Several EU leaders have already stressed that a decision on warplanes would be a collective move.
Some are keen to avoid having the debate being played out in public, while there is also concern about ‘escalation’ and playing into Russian narratives.
The Kremlin warned on Thursday that “the line between direct and indirect Western involvement in the conflict was disappearing.”
The chief of Mr Zelensky’s presidential staff, Andriy Yermak, said cryptically that the question of long-range weaponry and fighter jets had been resolved. Mr Zelensky said only that certain agreements had been made that were positive but not yet public.
The UK said no decision on providing jets in the long term had yet been made but it would provide training for Ukrainian pilots on the aircraft it already had.
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said his country could only act “within the entire formation of Nato“, while Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the issue had to be discussed behind closed doors. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola called on EU states to consider Kyiv’s request for jets quickly.
In his speech to the Parliament in Brussels, Mr Zelensky repeatedly linked Ukraine to a European way of life. Ukraine has applied to join the EU and is urging the bloc’s leaders to throw its weight behind a swift course to accession, which usually takes many years.
“Ukraine is going to be a member of the European Union,” he told MEPs. Together with Europe, he said Ukrainians were defending themselves against the “biggest anti-European force of the modern world.” That theme was repeated at the later summit with EU leaders, where he stressed that “Europe could not be free without a free Ukraine.”
BBC /Shakirat Sadiq
