Zelensky Heads to Brussels Summit to Plead for Jets

By Staff, Agencies

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will travel to Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday as guest of honor at the European Union summit.

He is expected to ask his EU allies to provide Ukraine with fighter jets. Zelensky arrived in Europe on Wednesday for a surprise visit.

It is only his second trip abroad, after the visit to the United States in December, since the start of the Russian military operation last February. The timing is crucial for Ukraine, which is worried about the recent advances of the Russian army in the eastern Donbass region and fears a major offensive in the coming weeks.

Zelensky was received on Wednesday by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and by King Charles III, before heading to Paris for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Macron and Zelensky agreed to travel to the summit in Brussels together.

The French President, like his German colleague, is stalling on the issue of sending fighter jets to Ukraine, while the British Prime Minister seems more open to the idea saying that “nothing is off the table” in terms of military aid for Ukraine. Macron promised Zelensky to continue "the effort" of "delivery of defense equipment."

"We have very little time," said Zelensky during the visit.

“The sooner Ukraine gets long-range heavy weaponry, the sooner our pilots get planes, the sooner this Russian aggression will end,” he added.