Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Britain on Monday yielded significant outcomes, as he secured a promise of “hundreds” more missiles and drones, bringing his country closer to its coveted goal of enlisting Western fighter jets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a visit to Britain Monday won the promise of “hundreds” more missiles and drones — and said his coveted goal of enlisting Western fighter jets was drawing nearer.
The visit came as a Russian missile strike killed four people and hit a hospital in eastern Ukraine, but also as Zelensky’s army readies a long-awaited counter-offensive against the Russian invaders with claimed gains around the flashpoint town of Bakhmut.
After meeting UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Zelensky said he was “very positive” about creating a “jets coalition” in the war against Russia, with a decision expected “in the closest time”.
Western nations have balked so far at providing advanced jets to help Ukraine take command of the skies against Russia, although Sunak said the UK was readying to open a flight school to train its pilots.
And while Russia’s ally China vies to act as peace broker, sending an envoy to Kyiv this week, Zelensky drummed up hefty new packages of military aid on weekend visits to France and Germany.
He proceeded Monday to the UK prime minister’s country estate of Chequers outside London. Sunak pledged air-defence missiles and long-range attack drones for Ukraine, both numbering in the hundreds.
Russia said the new UK weapons would only cause “further destruction”, and claimed to have downed a Storm Shadow cruise missile that Britain said last week it was providing, in the West’s first deployment of long-range rocketry for Ukraine.
Marie de La Roche Saint-André, with AFP
