Britain has said it is “actively looking at” sending fighter jets to Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the UK and Western allies to provide his country with “wings for freedom” in a speech to Parliament.
In an address to both houses of Parliament on Wednesday, Zelenskyy thanked the UK for its support for Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.
But he said his country needs more planes to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
After presenting a Ukrainian fighter ace’s helmet to Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, Zelenskyy said: “I appeal to you and the world with simple and yet most important words: combat aircraft for Ukraine, wings for freedom.”
Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle (left), holds the helmet of one of the most successful Ukrainian pilots, inscribed with the words “We have freedom, give us wings to protect it,” which was presented to him by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he addressed parliamentarians in Westminster Hall, London, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Media)He said that on his last trip to Parliament two years ago in peacetime, “I thanked you for delicious English tea,” but now he would be “thanking all of you in advance for powerful English planes.”
Addressing a packed Westminster Hall, Zelenskyy told British lawmakers: “We know freedom will win. We know Russia will lose. And we really know that the victory will change the world and this will be a change that the world has long needed.
“The United Kingdom is marching with us towards the most, I think, the most important victory of our lifetime. It will be a victory over the very idea of the war.”
This is Zelenskyy’s first visit to the UK since the Russian invasion began a year ago, and is only his second time travelling overseas since then, after he held talks in the United States and Poland during a trip in December.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outside 10 Downing Street, London, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Victoria Jones/PA Media)The UK has so far refused to provide Ukraine with British jets, arguing that the Royal Air Forces’s F-35 and Typhoon jets take too long for pilots to train on.
But, ahead of his talks with the Ukrainian president, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to train Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO-standard advanced fighter jets.
Sunak said: “Since 2014, the UK has provided vital training to Ukrainian forces, allowing them to defend their country, protect their sovereignty, and fight for their territory. I am proud that today we will expand that training from soldiers to marines and fighter jet pilots, ensuring Ukraine has a military able to defend its interests well into the future.”
Downing Street said that the training will “ensure pilots are able to fly sophisticated NATO-standard fighter jets” and enable Ukraine to “defend its skies well into the future.”
The prime minister’s official spokesman said the UK is “willing to put Ukraine in the position where, once we have reached the goals of training pilots, they are able to fly these type of jets.”
“What we have not made a decision on is whether we send UK fighter jets. Obviously, there is an ongoing discussion among other countries about their own fighter jets, some of which are more akin to what Ukrainian pilots are used to.”
But Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is “actively looking at whether we send jets,” the spokesman said.
The government also said there will be an “immediate surge of military equipment” to Ukraine to help counter Russia’s spring offensive, including longer-range capabilities that will “disrupt Russia’s ability to continually target Ukraine’s civilian and critical national infrastructure and help relieve pressure on Ukraine’s front lines.”
An RAF Typhoon fighter jet in an undated file photo. (SAC Charlotte Hopkins/MoD/PA)Following Zelenskyy’s speech, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Rishi Sunak to supply Ukraine with jets and more tanks.
He said: “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.”
Johnson said supplying Typhoon jets to Ukraine would require the support of Germany, Italy, and Spain, the other countries involved in its development, but he insisted that should not be an issue.
“It is true that the Typhoon is a four-nation plane and that we require the approval of allies for export. But there is no reason to think that Germany or others should oppose our decision—these are UK planes.”
The UK also announced a fresh package of sanctions on Russian firms and allies of Putin to coincide with Zelenskyy’s surprise visit.
CST, a manufacturer of Russian drones, and RT-Komplekt, which produces parts for helicopters used in the war against Ukraine, are among the entities sanctioned.
Five individuals linked to Putin’s luxury residences, including presidential commissioner for entrepreneurs’ rights Boris Titov and Aerostart owner Viktor Myachin, were also hit with travel bans and asset freezes.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “These new sanctions accelerate the economic pressure on Putin—undermining his war machine to help Ukraine prevail.
“I am determined, consistent with our laws, that Russia will have no access to the assets we have frozen until it ends, once and for all, its threats to Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and integrity.”
PA Media contributed to this report.