Rishi Sunak laid the foundation for Britannia send fighter jets to Ukraine following an impassioned request from Volodymyr Zelensky during his surprise trip to the UK; according to the British Telegraph.

The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Defense to figure out how to provide aircraft, and said that Ukrainian pilots would be trained in the UK.

The sudden opportunity to satisfy Ukraine’s request for NATO-standard aircraft came on a day of extraordinary diplomacy.

Zelenskiy, whom Sunak hugged at Stansted Airport, was already flying to the UK on an RAF plane when news broke of a visit that had been secretly planned for months.

Addressing MPs in Westminster, Zelenskiy said: “I am addressing you and the world in simple but very important words: fighter jets for Ukraine. Wings of Freedom”.

He presented the Verkhovna Rada with a helmet of a Ukrainian fighter pilot with the inscription: “We have freedom. Give us wings to protect her.”

In the afternoon, the Ukrainian president met with King Charles at Buckingham Palace, who told him: “We are all worried about you and our thoughts are with your people.”

The call for the plane was immediately backed by Boris Johnson, the former prime minister and Sunak’s rival, who issued a statement urging the UK to provide “additional equipment that is needed” by Ukraine. Johnson said: “The time has come to give the Ukrainians the extra equipment they need to defeat Putin and restore peace in Ukraine. That means longer range missiles and artillery. That means more tanks. I mean airplanes. We have over 100 Typhoon aircraft. We have over 100 Challenger 2 tanks. The best one-time use of any of them is to deploy them now to protect the Ukrainians, primarily because this is how we ensure our own long-term security.”

The UK will train Ukrainian pilots on simulators that can be adapted to different types of aircraft, meaning they will eventually be able to use aircraft donated by other NATO allies, not just the UK. Many of Ukraine’s allies have American F-16s.

Sending British Typhoon fighters is complicated by the fact that they were built jointly with Germany, Italy and Spain, which means that their deployment in Ukraine usually requires the approval of these countries.

The British Prime Minister and his team have made a distinction between weapons that will help Ukraine in the immediate conflict and weapons in the long term, suggesting that militants fall into the second category.

Downing Street has in fact stated that it usually takes three years for a pilot to learn how to use one of the British aircraft, arguing that an immediate supply of aircraft would not help. However, Zelensky later claimed that Ukrainian pilots had already been trained for two and a half years, saying at a press conference: “Come, we will send you pilots who have been trained for two and a half years.”

Surprisingly British twist

The new willingness to consider providing aircraft from the UK to fight Vladimir Putin’s fighters is a marked change from just a few weeks ago.

This echoes similar moves in the past, when the UK finally agreed to send heavy artillery and tanks to be used by Ukrainian soldiers.

Rishi Sunak explained the UK’s new openness to fighter jets at a joint press conference with Zelenskiy in Dorset after the two men visited Ukrainians being trained by the British military.

The British Prime Minister said: “As far as fighter jets are concerned, of course, that is part of the conversation – indeed, we have talked about it today and we have talked about it in the past. That is why today we announced that we will train the Ukrainian Air Force on NATO standard platforms, because the first step to being able to provide modern aircraft is to have soldiers or pilots capable of using them. This is a process that takes some time. We started this process today because we want to support the President and his country in achieving victory. And nothing is discussed, and our position on this issue is that together we should be very proud, and I know that the President is grateful.”

The Ukrainian president replied that “today I will leave parliament thanking all of you in advance for the powerful British aircraft.”

At a joint press conference, Zelenskiy warned that there was a risk of “stagnation” in his country’s fight against Russia unless planes and other key weapons were sent.

Kyiv and its Western allies are aiming to arm Ukrainian fighters as much as possible before this spring, when a new Russian attack on the country is expected.

The Russian embassy in London warned on Wednesday that the purchase of combat aircraft means that the UK will be responsible for “another escalation and the ensuing military-political consequences for the European continent and the whole world.”

While Rishi Sunak’s move to openly consider sending fighter jets to Ukraine is noteworthy, it remains unclear when and if this option will be implemented.

Downing Street has tried to make it clear that the decision to send the planes has not yet been made. Ben Wallace, Secretary of Defense, has been tasked with looking into this matter.

Today, Thursday, the Ukrainian president is expected to repeat his call for aircraft in his speech to the European Parliament in Brussels. He also made the request during a stop in Paris on Wednesday evening to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Speaking on the Champs-Élysées before lunch, Macron said France would “continue its efforts” to deliver weapons to Kyiv.

An adviser to the Ukrainian president told The Telegraph that Kiev believes that the decision on the release of Western aircraft will not be as verbose as the decision on tanks.

“Things are moving faster now than at the beginning of the war,” the adviser said, proposing a decision to be made at the next meeting of the U.S.-led contact group on Ukraine at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Feb. 14.

Olaf Scholz, however, has warned that Berlin will not be drawn into a “public trade war” for military support for Ukraine, and US President Joe Biden has already said the US will not provide Ukraine with F-16 jets.

Source: Telegraph