British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday “nothing is off the table” in terms of military aid to Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelensky stepped up his request for help ahead of talks with EU leaders.
Fighter jets for Ukraine are “part of the conversation”, Sunak told a joint news conference with Zelensky, who is confirmed to join the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.
After talks in London and a landmark speech by Zelensky to the British parliament, the two leaders inspected Ukrainian soldiers training in south-west England to operate British Challenger 2 tanks.
Thanking Sunak for British help, Zelensky also called for long-range missiles ahead of the EU summit.
He said that unless Ukraine gets fighter jets, or more missiles and more ammunition, “there will be stagnation”.
“These people (Russians) will come and live in our territory, and this will pose a great risk to the whole world,” Zelensky said through a translator.
Sunak on Wednesday offered to train Ukrainian fighter pilots and marines, on top of a British program that has prepared 10,000 soldiers for war.
But he pointed out that the pilot training program could take three years, and noted that Britain would need clearance from allies to offer joint production aircraft such as the Typhoon.
Smiling, Zelensky replied that the Ukrainian pilots sent by the West had been “trained for two and a half years”.