Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, voiced optimism on Thursday that his European allies will follow his call to supply Kiev with modern fighter jets.
‘Today I’ve heard powerful support from many countries,’ Zelensky said after a summit of almost 50 European leaders in Moldova, according to the English translation of his remarks provided by the organization.
He heard about ‘a significant number’ of fighter aircrafts, the Ukrainian president said.
Zelensky stressed that the planes were needed primarily for the protection of the Ukrainian population from Russian air attacks, and not for a counteroffensive.
Kiev has already received air defence systems and some Soviet-made fighter jets, and some European countries agreed to train Ukrainian pilots on modern jets.
Until Ukraine received more aircrafts, Kiev will need more Patriot air defence systems, Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president urged his European allies to support Ukraine with modern fighter jets and Patriot systems, when addressing fellow leaders at a summit held in the town of Bulboaca, some 20 kilometres away from the Ukrainian border.
‘A coalition of Patriots that will put an end to Russian blackmail by ballistic missiles, and a coalition of modern fighter jets that will prove that terror against our citizens has no chance’ are ‘decisive components,’ Zelensky told his counterparts.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed the importance of air defence systems already provided by Berlin, arriving at the meeting.
This was particularly visible now where ‘there are so many attacks on the part of the Russian Federation with missiles, with aircrafts, with cruise missiles,’ he said.
Scholz did not rule out the delivery of further air defence systems to Ukraine after the summit.
Most recently, a Russian missile barrage on Kiev early on Thursday killed at least three people, including two children, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country is supplying Patriot systems and has agreed to train pilots on US-made F16 jets, expressed support for Zelensky’s call.
More countries who own Patriot systems need to get involved and supply those to Kiev, Rutte said, adding that he wants to try to convince other countries.
‘I don’t need to tell you how much is at stake,’ he added.
Zelensky also stressed Ukraine’s willingness to join the European Union and NATO during the summit.
‘We need just peace. That is why every European country that borders Russia, and that does not want Russia to tear them apart, should be a full member of the EU and NATO,’ he said.
Russia is afraid of NATO and tries to swallow only those who are outside of the common security space, he added.
Speaking after the meeting, Scholz left open whether Ukraine could join NATO immediately after the end of the war.
Close to 50 European leaders met on Thursday in Moldova, with topics including the continent’s security, connectivity and energy issues on the agenda.
The meeting, to which Russia and Belarus were not invited, follows up on last year’s French-led initiative to gather leaders of European Union and non-member countries in Prague to discuss current political challenges.
The location of the summit is highly symbolic as Bulboaca, is in the immediate vicinity of the border with war-torn Ukraine and Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria, where Russian soldiers have been stationed since the 1990s.
International observers have repeatedly warned that Moscow could use unrest in the region caused by the invasion of Ukraine as an excuse to escalate the situation.
A top Russian intelligence official expressed annoyance at the meeting.
‘The West is actively pushing Moldova to take part in the Ukrainian conflict,’ Alexander Bortnikov, the director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), said on Thursday, according to state news agency TASS.
The EU’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, however, said on Thursday that he hopes the summit will send ‘a strong message’ to Russia, as it should demonstrate that Europe is united in defending the international order.
‘It’s important that this message reaches Russia,’ Borrell said.
Russia is not there, not because the organizers did not want to invite Russia, but because Russian President Vladimir Putin excluded his country from the European community by launching an unjustified war against Ukraine, he said.
Source: Ghana News Agency