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Britain promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy long-range attack drones when he visited the country on Monday as part of a European tour aimed at securing new weapons for counterattacks against Russia.
Zelenskyy met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the British leader’s country house Checkers, where the pair also discussed Ukraine’s request for Western fighter jets.
Britain said it would begin basic training of Ukrainian pilots this summer, “in line with Britain’s efforts to work with other countries to supply F-16 jets.”
“We want to create this coalition of jets and I am very sure … I see that in the near future you will hear some, I think, very important decisions, but we need to do more,” Zelenskyy, who came from a visit to Rome, Berlin and Paris, told reporters after the meeting.
Sunak said Britain would supply hundreds of air defense missiles and unmanned aerial systems, including new long-range attack drones with a range of more than 200 kilometers, which would be delivered “over the coming months.”
Sunak’s spokesman also said that Britain has no plans to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
“Ukraine made a decision to train pilots on the F-16 and you will know that[Angkatan Udara Kerajaan]don’t use it,” he said.[RoyalAirForce}don’tusethose”hesaid[RoyalAirForce}don’tusethose”hesaid
Bakhmut gains are not considered counteroffensive
Zelenskyy won additional pledges for tanks, armored vehicles and other weapons within days from Germany and France.
The Kremlin on Friday said that Russia took “very negative” from Britain’s decision to provide Ukraine with more military hardware, but did not believe that London’s help would change the course of the conflict.
After keeping its forces on the defensive for six months, Ukraine plans to launch a major offensive to seize territory using newly acquired weapons from the West. It made its biggest gains since last November in the battle for the city of Bakhmut last week, the first major offensive operation since his forces captured the southern city of Kherson in November.
“The advance of our troops in the direction of Bakhmut is the first success of the offensive action in the defense of Bakhmut,” Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of the ground forces, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
“The last few days have shown that we can go forward and destroy the enemy even in very difficult situations,” he said. “We are fighting with fewer resources than the enemy. At the same time, we can sabotage their plans.”
The battle for the small eastern city has been the longest and bloodiest war and has a totemic meaning for Russia, which has no other prize to show for the winter campaign that cost thousands of lives.
Moscow has admitted its retreat north of the city, and the head of Wagner’s private army fighting in Bakhmut says Russian regular forces have fled north and south.
Ukrainian officials have described the fighting in the region as local progress, rather than a major counteroffensive push that they say has yet to take place.
Asked whether the counteroffensive could start without providing more advanced weapons, Zelenskyy said: “We really need more time, not too much. We will be ready for some time … I can’t be with you.”
The Kremlin says it has released a British missile
Last week, London announced it would deploy a Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missile, with a longer range than any Western weapon it has previously deployed, in violation of a ban on weapons capable of striking Russian lines.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday at its daily briefing that it had destroyed the long-range Storm Shadow missile, as well as the HIMARS and shorter range HARM missiles. Reuters could not verify the report.
After the United States, Britain is one of the largest providers of military aid to Ukraine, donating 2.3 billion pounds ($3.9 billion Cdn) in support last year and pledging the same amount for 2023.
WATCH | Zelenskyy received an international gift for Ukrainians, thanking allies:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has received a new military aid pledge from Germany ahead of a planned Kyiv counterattack.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the European Union said on Friday that Kyiv’s own peace plan should be the starting point for any efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, in a comment that coincided with the start of China’s “political settlement” tour of Europe.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke as China’s top envoy began a tour of Europe that Beijing said was to discuss a “political settlement” to the war in Ukraine, now in its 15th month.
“There is nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” said von der Leyen, who visited Kyiv last week. “We will never forget that Ukraine is a country that has been brutally attacked. That is why we must establish the core principles for peace.”
While he said it was “very good” that Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he insisted Beijing must use its influence in Moscow to end the war.
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