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Ukrainian president to ask allies for fighter jets and longer-range missiles; Nato secretary general says there is no sign of Russia preparing for peace
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next hour.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to travel to Brussels today to lobby EU leaders for more weapons and a speedy start to joining the bloc.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has used a visit to Paris on Wednesday to urge Europe to deliver combat aircraft and heavy arms to Ukraine as soon as possible. “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,” the Ukrainian president said as he arrived at the Élysée Palace on Wednesday. Zelenskiy met with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, urging them to be “game changers” by sending modern planes and then “the quicker this Russian aggression will end”.
Macron said Paris would “continue the efforts” to deliver arms to Kyiv, adding that France was determined to help Ukraine towards “victory, peace and Europe”. “Russia cannot and must not win,” he said, adding that “the future of Europe” was at stake in Ukraine. Scholz said it was clear that Moscow would not win, and assured Ukraine its future was in the EU, saying Ukraine was part of the “European family”. “Putin will not achieve his goals – not on the battlefield and not through a dictated peace.”
Zelenskiy also made an emotional appeal to the UK to supply Ukraine with fighter jets on a surprise visit to the UK earlier on Wednesday. “I appeal to you and the world with simple and yet most important words: combat aircrafts – for Ukraine! Wings – for freedom!” he said. Rishi Sunak, previously opposed to handing over UK jets, has ordered a defence ministry review into whether Zelenskiy’s request can be met, saying “nothing was off the table”.
Pledges of support by Sunak, the UK prime minister, included training Ukrainian pilots on advanced Nato fighter jets “to ensure Ukraine can defend its skies well into the future”. Sunak added: “The first step in being able to provide advanced aircrafts is to have soldiers or aviators that are capable of using them. That is a process. It takes some time, we’ve started that process today.”
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said there was no sign of Russia preparing for peace. “On the contrary, Moscow is preparing for new military offensives,” he said during a joint press conference with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
Zelenskiy is expected to travel to Brussels on Thursday, with leaders of EU countries due there for a summit. A senior Ukrainian official said the president would ask for more arms to fight Russia and for the EU to move quickly on Ukraine’s bid to join. Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, would meet with Zelenskiy on the sidelines of a European Council meeting, a government source told Reuters.
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