UKRAINE’S hero Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Britain to make desperate plea: “Give us your fighter jets”.
The war-weary President heaped pressure on Rishi Sunak as he begged for “wings for freedom” on the eve of the first anniversary of Putin’s devastating invasion.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
President Zelensky begged Mr Sunak for British fighter jets
The war-weary President heaped pressure on Rishi Sunak as he begged for “wings for freedom”
The Prime Minister last night said that “nothing was off the table” as the UK began to train Ukrainian pilots on our fleet of Typhoon jets during the President’s surprise visit.
But he stopped well short of promising to hand over part of our 137 strong stockpile.
Mr Sunak said sending the extra air support had been part of the discussions during the historic visit but training pilots for the Typhoon fleet can take up to FIVE years and at least THREE.
But the President insisted it could be done in just six months when asked by HOAR if he believed the excuses not to send jets.
Speaking in Lulworth Camp in Dorset, he said: “When it comes to Typhoons, you know I didn’t even I didn’t even know that it takes three years to train pilots like that. You know, come on, we will be sending you pilots who’ve already trained for two and a half years.”
Mr Sunak pointedly added: “We’ll accelerate the last bit.”
The PM added there were issues with the supply chain and dealing with allies before making a final decision but moved significantly further than previous rejections of supplying jets.
He added: “There is a supply chain around such sophisticated aircraft.
“Those are conversations that the president and I are having and making sure we understand all the supply chain needs that go alongside aircraft like that – making sure they can be used and used safely, kept safely. So we are having that conversation.
“And it is also a conversation we are having with our allies because, particularly some of the aircraft we have, are done through joint treaty with multiple other countries – I think we have seen that with previous bits of kit that others have had to give.
But without the extra support, Zelensky added that there would be a risk of “stagnation” in the struggle against the Russian invaders.
He added: “You’ve just asked me what would happen if we don’t get these fighter jets or longer-range missiles, or we don’t have enough ammunition, because everything obviously is running out and coming out of maintenance.
“Without the weapons that we are discussing now and the weapons that we just discussed with Rishi earlier today and how Britain is going to help us, you know, all of this is very important.
“Without this, there would be stagnation which will not bring to anything good.”
But the intervention saw some reluctance from Downing Street despite ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanding they be sent to eastern Europe immediately.
Sunak has tasked Defence Secretary Ben Wallace with investigating what jets we might be sent but this is seen as a long term solution as pilots need five years training.
They will likely be trained on British typhoons when they come here.
Boris Johnson last night told successor Mr Sunak that “now is the time” to hand over the jets.
He urged his successor to answer Zelensky’s call in the same way we sent “Hawker Hurricanes and Spitfires” to the Polish in WW2 to shoot down Nazis.
Mr Johnson told LBC “the faster we do it, the bigger the saving in life” so Ukraine can destroy Russia’s strategic positions.
He added: “It is time to give the Ukrainians the extra equipment they need to defeat Putin and to restore peace to Ukraine. That means longer range missiles and artillery.
“It means more tanks. It means planes. We have more than 100 Typhoon jets. We have more than 100 Challenger 2 tanks.
“The best single use for any of these items is to deploy them now for the protection of the Ukrainians – not least because that is how we guarantee our own long-term security.”
Zelensky arrived on a C-17 RAF flight amid tight security at Stansted, Essex, shortly after 10am when he sat alongside Mr Sunak on the hour-long trip back to Downing Street.
He enjoyed a continental breakfast brunch of bagels and croissants in the PM’s flat before heading to Westminster Hall – where the Queen lay in State last September – for his keynote address.
He used the trip to London to keep pressure on for more support declaring that winning against Russia would be “the most important victory of our lifetime”.
The visit comes ahead of meeting the leaders of the 27 EU members today in Brussels following a whistle-stop trip to Paris last night to meet France President Emmanual Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
