Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said several European Union leaders had said at a summit he attended on Thursday that they were ready to provide planes to Kiev to help it fight Russia’s invasion, Reuters reported. While the West seems determined to arm Ukraine with at least tanks, former Russian President Dmytro Medvedev appears to have panicked and is pushing for increased tank production within the Russian Federation.

Zelensky spoke after joining all 27 EU national leaders for talks in Brussels for the first time, part of his second trip abroad since Russia’s attack a year ago this month and one aimed at getting more weapons from allies.

• “Europe will be with us until we win. We heard this from a number of European leaders… about the readiness to provide us with the necessary weapons and support, including aircraft,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference.

Zelensky did not say which countries would like to send the planes to “not give Russia the opportunity to prepare”

• “I currently have a number of bilateral negotiations, we will raise the issue of fighter jets and other aviation,” Zelenskyy said.

He did not say which EU countries had said they were ready to send the planes, but said he had discussed improving Ukraine’s military capabilities during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, though he could not make all of them public. elements of discussion.

• “There are certain agreements that are not public, but they are positive. I do not want to prepare the Russian Federation, which constantly threatens us with new aggressions,” Zelensky said during a joint press conference with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the European Commission. President Ursula von der Leyen.

EU member states have supplied Ukraine with large quantities of weapons over the past year and have become increasingly quiet about sending heavy weapons such as battle tanks.

But it has yet to commit — at least publicly — to sending fighter jets and longer-range missiles, citing concerns about a potential escalation of the conflict on Russian soil.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that Ukraine had no plans to send planes to fight Russia, adding that training Ukrainian pilots was the first step for them to be able to use such planes.

However, Great Britain is considering “potential risks of escalation” as it considers sending warplanes to Ukraine, Downing Street told AP, The Guardian reports.

Asked about concerns among some Western allies that providing the aircraft could drag NATO into the conflict, a spokesman for the British prime minister said:

• “First of all, we have not yet made a decision on the delivery of aircraft from Great Britain, we are currently training. The United Kingdom is in the process of taking delivery of Challenger tanks and we have also provided longer range capabilities. We take these decisions carefully. We are aware of the potential risks of escalation,” the spokesman said.

Russia should increase production of tanks

Despite the fact that the Institute for the Study of War says the Russian military has taken the initiative on the battlefield for the first time since August 2022, the arms shipments and Western promises to help Ukraine are causing panic in the Kremlin.

Former Russian President Dmytro Medvedev, during a visit to a tank factory in the Siberian city of Omsk on Thursday, said that Moscow would increase production of tanks in response to the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine.

“As we know, our adversary (Ukraine) has been begging abroad for planes, missiles, and tanks. How should we respond? It is clear that in this case it is natural to increase the production of various weapons, including modern tanks,” Medvedev said. said in a video of his visit posted on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelensky insists on speeding up the process of Ukraine’s accession to the EU

Ukraine, which wants to join the EU, also wants accession talks to start this year.

But while some EU member states are eager to boost Ukraine’s morale that would come with the start of accession talks, others are far more cautious.

They stressed that potential members must meet a number of criteria, such as fighting corruption, before they can start negotiations.

European Council President Charles Michel made it clear that “the road to peace, reconstruction and reunification will be a long and difficult road,” before adding: “We will be with you every step of the way.”

He also said that by the end of the year there will be updated information on Ukraine’s accession process, without specifying what it will be.

Zelensky asked the EU to increase sanctions against Russia, particularly in the IT sector, to reduce Moscow’s ability to produce missiles for war.

He told EU leaders that they would go down in history, like the bloc’s founding fathers, if they now promote peace in Ukraine and its accession to the European Union: “A free Europe cannot be imagined without a free Ukraine,” he said.