Ukraine’s allies should consider “quickly, as a next step, providing long-range systems” and fighter jets to Ukraine, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said Thursday.
Metsola, speaking ahead of an address by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine “must be proportional to the threat, and the threat is existential.” Zelenskyy has repeatedly lobbied the EU and the U.S. for long-range missiles and warplanes aimed at driving back an expected Russian offensive this spring.
Zelenskyy made his pitch again Thursday in Brussels, Belgium, before the European Parliament, thanking EU leaders for their support and urging them to provide more weaponry.
“The Kremlin has been consistently destroying, step by step, year after year, what we see as the basis of our Europe,” Zelenskyy told the EU leaders. “The sacred value of human life has been completely destroyed in Russia as well.”
Developments:
►Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, Wagner founder YevgenyPrigozhin said.
WINGS FOR FREEDOM:Zelenskyy visits UK, lobbies for fighter jets, and Britain is receptive
PUTIN ON ZELENSKYY:Putin once pledged not to kill Zelenskyy, ex-Israeli leader says; Ukraine expects to get jets from West
Zelenskyy makes passionate pitch for EU membership
Zelenskyy made a passionate plea for EU membership, suggesting membership talks should start later this year. Zelenskyy’s timeline would shrink to months or years what might normally take decades to attain. His a push toward EU inclusion is viewed in part as an effort to help motivate Ukrainian soldiers struggling to repel Russia’s firepower-driven invasion.
“For the first time in history, I believe, (the EU) is preparing a positive assessment of internal reforms in a European country that is defending itself in this all-out war and – at the same time, while fighting – modernizing its institutions,” Zelenskyy said. “We are getting closer to the European Union. Ukraine will be a member of the European Union.”
Zelenskyy says European nations ready to provide warplanes
Zelensky, speaking at a briefing in Brussels, said “several” European leaders expressed readiness to provide Ukraine with fighter jets and other necessary weapons. Zelenskyy said he is due to hold a series of bilateral meetings “where the topic of combat aviation will be given the necessary attention.”
He did not reveal the names of the countries that he said are ready to sign off on providing jets to his military. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Thursday that his country was ready to provide Ukraine with fighter jets, but it needed to reach an agreement with other NATO allies. He said that Poland wouldn’t be the first country to send F-16 jets since its own stocks are also low.
Moldova confirms Zelenskyy claim that Russia seeks to undermine democracy
Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service confirmed Zelensky’s claim that Ukraine found information about a strategy of the Russian Federation to neutralize or overthrow Moldova’s democracy. The agency said the documents detailed “subversive activities were identified with the aim of undermining the state of the Republic of Moldova, destabilizing and violating public order.” It appears from the materials that Russia had prepared a plan to take over political control of Moldova, the agency said, adding that all of Moldova’s state institutions “are working at full capacity and will not allow these challenges to happen.”
“When we received this document and understood where it came from, we immediately warned Moldova about these threats,” Zelenskyy said. “I’m sure you would have done the same.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
