Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought Western support for his country on surprise visits to Britain and France on Wednesday, promoting fighter jets to fight Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the UK Parliament, and then flew to Paris to meet with the French and German leaders. Dinner at the Elysée Palace.
Zelenskyy’s European tour and more advanced pleas for arms came as Ukraine prepares for an expected Russian offensive and hatches plans of its own to retake land from Moscow forces. Western support has been key to kyiv’s surprisingly rigid defense, and the two sides are locked in grueling battles.
Zelenskyy thanked the British people for their support since “Day One” of the invasion of Moscow nearly a year ago, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said fighter jets were “part of the conversation” about aid to Ukraine.
“Nothing is out of the question,” he told an evening news conference at a British army base. “We must arm Ukraine in the short term, but we must strengthen Ukraine in the long term.”
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs all kinds of supplies, not just planes, but also ammunition and long-range missiles.
“Without this, there would be a stalemate which will bring nothing good,” he said, calling his visit to Britain “very fruitful.”
He then went to Paris to have dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Zelenskyy was greeted on the steps of the Élysée Palace on Wednesday night with a friendly hug from Macron, and then the three leaders headed inside. The visit marks a change in Zelenskyy’s relations with France and Germany, which earlier in the war were seen by many in Ukraine as not doing enough to help.
“Ukraine can count on France, its European partners and allies to win the war. Russia cannot and must not win,” Macron said before his working dinner. Macron’s office issued a statement confirming that Zelenskyy will attend Thursday’s summit in Brussels, where EU leaders will pledge his support to the Ukrainian people.
Zelenskyy’s trip to European capitals on Wednesday was only his second trip abroad since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022. In December, he traveled to Washington to meet President Joe Biden and address the US Congress.
His day began when he arrived on a Royal Air Force plane to London and was greeted on the tarmac with a hug from Sunak. They held talks at the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing St. before Zelenskyy’s speech to lawmakers in the 900-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest and, on a cold winter’s day, unheated part of Parliament.
“London has supported Kyiv from day one,” he said, repeatedly thanking the British for their help. The UK has sent Ukraine more than 2 billion pounds (2.5 billion dollars) worth of weapons and equipment.
Wearing his trademark olive green sweatshirt, he urged allies to deliver planes to Ukraine, saying the fighter jets would be “wings for freedom.”
In a dramatic gesture, Zelenskyy presented the Speaker of the House of Commons with a Ukrainian air force helmet, inscribed by a Ukrainian pilot: “We have freedom. Give us wings to protect it.
The president was trying to soften the reluctance of allies to send advanced fighter jets, both because they are difficult to fly and out of fear that the war would escalate.
The UK has repeatedly said that it is impractical to provide Ukraine with British fighter jets. But in a twist, the government said on Wednesday that it was “actively looking” at whether Ukraine could receive Western planes, and was “in discussions with our allies” about it.
Britain also said it would train Ukrainian pilots in Britain on “NATO standard fighter aircraft” within weeks.
Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, said the government was exploring “what aircraft we might offer” in the coming years, but had not made a decision on whether to send its F-35 or Typhoon.
“We think it’s right to provide equipment in the short term… that can help win the war now, but also look to the medium and long term to make sure Ukraine has all the possible capability it needs,” he said.
Ukraine has sought Western fighter jets since the beginning of the war to bolster its force of Soviet-made Su and MiG-29 fighters. The success of his air force in defending its skies and territories despite Russia’s greater numbers helped push back Moscow’s initial attack.
The Russian embassy in London strongly warned the UK not to supply the fighter jets, saying Britain would bear responsibility “for another turn of the escalation and the consequent military-political consequences for the European continent and the whole world.”
Macron has said that France has not ruled out sending fighter jets but has set conditions, including not leading to an escalation of tensions or using the plane “to touch Russian soil” and not weakening “the capabilities of the French army”.
Sunak and Zelenskyy flew by helicopter to Lulworth Camp, a base in south-west England, where they met Ukrainian troops being trained on the Challenger 2 tanks the UK is sending as part of the hundreds Kyiv says it needs. More than 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained in the UK and Britain says it will train 20,000 more by 2023.
“I am proud that today we will expand that training from soldiers to marines and fighter jet pilots, ensuring that Ukraine has a military capable of defending its interests in the future,” Sunak said.
Zelenskyy also went to Buckingham Palace, where he met King Charles III, who greeted him with a broad smile and a warm handshake before tea. The king told the president that “we have all been worried about you and thinking about your country for so long.”
In his speech in Parliament, Zelenskyy noted that Charles was a qualified military pilot.
“The king is an air force pilot,” Zekenskyy said, and “today in Ukraine, every air force pilot is a king.”
Zelenskyy was greeted with applause, cheers and shouts of “Slava Ukraini” (Glory to Ukraine) as he arrived at Parliament, where his cause is widely supported.
He had addressed the UK Parliament remotely in March, two weeks after the invasion began. He echoed World War II leader Winston Churchill’s famous “never give up” speech, vowing that the Ukrainians “will fight to the end at sea, in the air.” We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost.”
On Wednesday, he recalled how on a visit to London before the war, he sat in Churchill’s chair in his underground wartime headquarters, and had a feeling he only now understands: “It was the feeling of how bravery takes you through the most unimaginable difficulties to finally reward you with victory.”
In past wars, “evil was lost,” he told UK lawmakers. “We know that Russia will lose and we know that victory will change the world.”
He also urged stronger sanctions against Moscow until “Russia is deprived of any possibility of financing this war.”
Coinciding with the visit, the UK government announced new sanctions against six entities Britain says supplied equipment to the Russian military. CST, a maker of Russian drones and parts for helicopters used against Ukraine, were among them.
The visit to London came as Russian forces shelled areas of eastern Ukraine in what Kyiv authorities believe is part of a push by Kremlin forces ahead of the anniversary of the invasion. Meanwhile, Moscow believes that Ukraine is preparing its own battlefield momentum.
