Zelensky in London: “Give us wings”. The Call for Jet Fighters

In Brussels there is still no official confirmation, for security reasons, but for now the news is known to everyone. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will be in the capital of the European institutions tomorrow to participate in the summit of heads of state and government and in an extraordinary session of the plenary of the European Parliament at 10 am.

The visit follows this morning in London, where he met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles, and tonight in Paris, where the Ukrainian leader will meet French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. . Some critics pointed out the absence of the Italian prime minister at the Paris meeting, but diplomatic sources recalled that not every time the Franco-German axis is without Italy one should speak of defeat, not least because tomorrow, on the sidelines of the European Council, President Giorgia Meloni will have a bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian president and a meeting with Macron is also not ruled out.

To European leaders, whom he finally visited after his December trip to Washington to meet US President Joe Biden, Zelensky offers his support for his peace plan, the call for new sanctions and new weapons, including jets. The first two points have already been fulfilled: only today did the London government approve new sanctions against Russia, while the EU intends to do so by the February 24th anniversary, with particular emphasis on measures against deviation from the measures approved on the 9th previous packages. In the third, the British prime minister did not rule out a future jet fighter: “Nothing is out of the question,” he said at a news conference with Zelensky. To underline his request, the Ukrainian President, during his speech before the British Parliament in Westminster Hall, gave the helmet of a Ukrainian pilot to the Speaker of the House of Commons, explaining that it was the helmet of a successful pilot in which there is an inscription that says the following words: “We have freedom, give us wings to protect it”. “I believe this symbol will help us in our next coalition, the aircraft coalition,” he said in an allusion to the earlier so-called ‘tank coalition’, speaking of “wings to freedom”.

Without jets from the West, the war would create “a stagnation that will lead to nothing good”, he reiterated after a visit to the Lulworth military base in southwest England, where Ukrainian soldiers are training. The Ukrainian president added that at the moment, in addition to jets, the priorities are tanks and long-range missiles. “I’m very grateful that Britain finally heard us on this,” he commented. Tomorrow’s European Council would also like to take another step forward on the issue of frozen Russian assets, which could be legally used for the reconstruction of Ukraine. “It’s very difficult because we are working hard with experts, leaders, political parties and in the G7, and the Japanese presidency is ready to work hard on it,” said a senior EU official. And then there is the matter of locating and punishing those responsible for the crime of aggression and war crimes. Also at the leader’s table.