Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday (February 9) that several European Union leaders were ready to provide Kyiv with aircraft to help it fight against Russia's military operation, Reuters reports.
Speaking during his first in-person meeting with all the 27 national leaders of a union Ukraine wants to join, Zelensky did not say who could provide jets, adding that some deals were still in the works, while others could not be made public.
EU countries have supplied large amounts of arms to Ukraine over the past year and have become increasingly comfortable with sending heavy weaponry such as battle tanks.
But they have yet to commit - publicly at least - to sending fighter jets and longer-range rockets, citing worries about a potential escalation of the conflict onto Russian territory.
"Europe will be with us until our victory. I've heard it from a number of European leaders... about the readiness to give us the necessary weapons and support, including the aircraft," Zelensky told a news conference in Brussels.
He did not elaborate, but said more would be decided in bilateral meetings with some of the leaders later in the day.
With the EU preparing a 10th package of sanctions against Russia for the February 24th anniversary of the start of the conflict, Zelensky asked it to curb Russian tech exports and reduce Moscow's ability to produce missiles for the conflict.
Ukraine, which wants to join the EU, is pushing for membership talks to start this year.
But while some EU countries are keen to give Ukraine the morale boost that would come with starting talks to join the bloc, others are much more cautious. They have stressed would-be members need to meet a range of criteria - such as cracking down on corruption - before they can even start negotiations.
Zelensky told EU leaders his country was "upgrading" its institutions.
"We are moving closer to the European Union. Ukraine will be a member of the European Union. Ukraine that is winning will be a member of the European Union that is winning," he said.
The European Commission is set to say in October if Ukraine meets the criteria to start accession talks, and then it requires member states to unanimously agree on it.
Earlier in the day, in an address to the European Parliament, Zelensky expressed gratitude for the support of both politicians and ordinary citizens in the EU.
"Europe will always remain free until we are together and until we take care of our Europe, take care of the European way of life. I thank all of you...Glory to Ukraine," he said, receiving a long-standing ovation from EU lawmakers, cheering and applauding, some of them wearing the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag.
