PARIS, France (AFP) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday made his first visits to Britain and France since the Russian invasion almost one year ago, pressing his allies for more weaponry and in particular fighter jets.
Making just his second venture abroad since the invasion, Zelensky enjoyed a ceremony-filled day in London where he met King Charles III and addressed parliament.
His visit to France — which by contrast appeared to have been squeezed in at the last minute — saw him hold a late dinner meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
But despite the contrast in formats, Zelensky’s demands were the same — more weapons, especially fighter jets and longer-range missiles, and faster deliveries.
“The sooner Ukraine gets long-range heavy weaponry, the sooner our pilots get planes, the sooner this Russian aggression will end and we can return to peace in Europe,” he said in Paris.
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“There is very little time,” he warned.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron right, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, center, and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left, arrive for a joint press conference at the Elysee presidential Palace in Paris on February 8, 2023. (SARAH MEYSSONNIER / POOL / AFP)
Macron pledged that France would help Ukraine to victory in fighting the Russian invasion and would press on with efforts to deliver arms.
France is “determined to help Ukraine to victory and the re-establishment of its legitimate rights,” he said.
He added: “Ukraine can count on France, its European partners, and its allies to win the war. Russia cannot and must not prevail.”
Scholz said Germany and its partners had backed Ukraine “financially, with humanitarian aid and with weapons”, adding: “We will continue to do so as long as necessary.”
‘Wings for freedom’>/h3>
As the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion looms and Ukraine braces for a new Russian offensive in the east, Zelensky is pushing ever harder for friendly nations to send tanks, jets and missiles.
Britain said it would consider the proposal for combat aircraft in the “long term”, although the United States and other NATO allies remain wary of getting more embroiled in the conflict for fear of provoking Russia.
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a 155mm artillery shell before firing at Russian positions from a US-supplied M777 howitzer in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, July 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Britain has offered to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on top of an existing program that has already prepared 10,000 troops for battle.
Zelensky — dressed in his usual green fatigues — received waves of applause as he made a historic address to both the lower and upper houses of the British parliament, on what was only his second overseas trip since the war began after his trip to the US.
“I appeal to you and the world… for combat aircrafts for Ukraine, wings for freedom,” he said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said he had tasked the defense secretary with “investigating what jets we might be able to give but, to be clear, this is a long-term solution rather than a short-term capability.”
Speaking alongside Zelensky in front of a British tank, Sunak said that “nothing is off the table” for Ukraine — including fighter-combat aircraft.
“Of course, they are part of the conversation,” he said but held back from giving a concrete commitment to provide fighter planes.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meet Ukrainian troops being trained to command Challenger 2 tanks at a military facility in Lulworth, Dorset, England, Wednesday Feb. 8, 2023. (Andrew Matthews/Pool via AP)
Zelensky said that fighter jets had been discussed and reiterated his call for longer-range missiles.
Russia subsequently said that there would be a “response” from Moscow should Britain supply aircraft to Ukraine.
After the hurried meeting in Paris, which the Ukraine leader himself described as spontaneous, Zelensky is due to meet EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.
‘He has changed’
Zelensky has on occasion shown impatience with Macron, who held frequent telephone talks with President Vladimir Putin even after the invasion and even expressed concern that Russia should not be humiliated in any final settlement.
But Macron has now indicated France wants to support Ukraine until it emerges victorious in the conflict and announced it would send light tanks in a move that prompted Germany to follow suit with battle tanks.
“I believe he has changed,” said Zelensky in an interview with the Le Figaro daily published ahead of the talks.
“And that he changed for real this time. After all, he (Macron) opened the door to tank deliveries.”
Ukrainian servicemen take position with a tank on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine on December 30, 2022. (Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
Moscow said Tuesday that Russian forces were advancing towards Bakhmut and Vugledar — two key centers of fighting in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, now the flashpoint of the war.
On Tuesday, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands promised that Ukraine would get at least 100 tanks in the coming months, as the German defense minister visited Kyiv.
Germany recently gave the green light for Leopard battle tanks to be sent to Ukraine after a tireless campaign by Zelensky and allied countries.
Germany’s defense minister said Berlin hoped to deliver the first tank battalion to Ukraine by April.
Putin, however, remains defiant.
Updated maps of Russia have gone on sale in Moscow bookstores that include four annexed Ukrainian regions: Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Lugansk, and Donetsk. Putin regularly refers to them as “our historical lands”.