Zelensky attends EU summit to press for more weapons, fighter jets
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky told the European Parliament on Thursday that his country's troops fighting Russian forces "are defending you", as he urged more EU military support.to help Ukraine in its war against Russia.
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The Ukrainian president started a surprise tour of Europe on Wednesday with visits to Britain and France, marking his second venture abroad since the Russian invasion 12 months ago.
His attendance at the EU summit in Brussels will be "a signal of European solidarity", said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who met Zelensky on Wednesday evening in Paris.
The visit to France saw Zelensky hold a late dinner meeting with Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron. Before that, he was in London where he met King Charles III and addressed parliament.
In both capitals, the Ukrainian president's demands were the same: more weapons, especially fighter jets and longer-range missiles, and faster delivery.
"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," Zelensky said in Paris.
"There is very little time," he warned.
'Ukraine can count on France'
President Macron pledged that France 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.
The French leader added: "Ukraine can count on France, its European partners and its allies to win the war. Russia cannot and must not prevail."
Chancellor 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."
Tanks, missiles, jet fighters
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.
Britain has offered to train Ukrainian fighter pilots. This is in addition to an existing programme that has already prepared 10,000 troops for battle.
Zelensky received waves of applause as he made a historic address to the British parliament on what was only his second overseas trip since the war began, following a 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 defence 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.
Russia subsequently said there would be a "response" from Moscow should Britain supply aircraft to Ukraine.
'Macron has changed'
Zelensky has on occasion shown impatience with Macron, who held frequent telephone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin even after the invasion and had expressed concern that Moscow 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.
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Macron presented Zelensky with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the highest distinction a French president can bestow on another head of state.
"I believe he has changed," said Zelensky in an interview with the Le Figaro daily published ahead of the talks.
Putin defiant
On Tuesday, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands promised that Ukraine would get at least 100 tanks in the coming months, as the German defence 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 defence minister said Berlin hoped to deliver the first tank battalion 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".
Moscow says that Russian forces were advancing towards Bakhmut and Vugledar, two key centres of fighting in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, now the flashpoint of the war.
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