The Peripatetic Defender of Ukraine

"We can’t control the sky. We want to create this jets coalition, and I’m very positive with it. "

"We spoke about it and I see that in the closest time, you will hear some, I think, very important decisions — but we have to work a little bit more on it."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"Other countries are involved. I’m talking to those leaders. I’ll be doing more of that this week in my international engagements."

"We’re very keen to build that coalition of countries to give Volodymyr and his people the aircraft support they need."

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

 

"On fighter jets, one of the concerns of the Ukrainians is how to protect their skies, from drone attacks, from helicopters strikes, from Russia fighter jets."

"So it’s totally natural to speak about everything and aviation is part of the conversation."

Elysée Palace official  

 

"[The Ukrainian president received] assurances [from Western leaders during his latest European tour that they will discuss the issue of combat jets in the days ahead.]"

"[Although Britain, Italy, France and Germany do not have F-16s to offer], they have an important voice in the international coalition [and Ukraine would like them to] encourage [allies such as the U.S. and Turkey.]"

"Everybody understands that the topic is ripe for discussion. Nobody said that it’s impossible. If you compared it with three months ago, when we were still struggling to get tanks, today everybody is talking about the jet coalition — that’s a very promising sign."

"We understand that our air defense will not be complete without fighter jets, F-16s."

Yuriy Sak, adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov

Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Off/UPI/Shutterstock

Once again, Ukraine's president has set out to remind his European colleagues and supporters of their importance in the provision of military equipment, to Ukraine's success in the battlefield, against the ruthless onslaught of Russian troops sent by Moscow to eradicate the country's sovereign independence in a brute-strength show of the oppressor calling in his cards for territorial expansion and the eradication of a nation's culture, heritage and liberty.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's antennae have tuned in to the donor-fatigue beginning to afflict his supporters abroad. Ukraine's battle to save itself from Moscow's octopus grip and Vladimir Putin's malice is hugely dependent on the practical, materiel support it receives from supporting Eastern and Western European nations, as much as it relies upon the United States and other democratic partner-nations to continue their financial and materiel donations to Ukraine's defensive-offensive strides in countering Russian imperialism.

Ukraine's president set off across Europe for a singular purpose in a two-fold mission; to remind his allies abroad of the sacrifices Ukraine has made, not only in its own defence, but by extension the defence of Russia's near-abroad, and secondly to jolt their sense of fraternal determination not to see Russia succeed in its mission to regain its former status as a dictatorial hegemon, absorbing the countries surrounding it as it has done before under the USSR. 

In return European leaders have promised to Ukraine an arsenal of missiles, tanks and drones in response to Mr. Zelenskyy's European whirlwind tour lobbying for Ukraine's need to mount an effective campaign of maintaining the integrity of its geography, wresting back from Russia the huge swathes of land, the towns and cities and seaports in Eastern Ukraine now occupied by Russian troops and which Russian President Putin has formally declared part of Russia.

"They've got to show they're in this conflict for the long term and that they're able to keep sustaining t his effort."

"It's not going to be one shot and done."

Justin Crump, former British tank commander, head, Sibyline security consultancy

"[If Ukraine launches an offensive] and it doesn't go well, there might be  drop off in support and more pressure to negotiate."

"I think he's just trying to bind in for as long as he possibly can as much support as he can from the West."

Patrick Bury, senior lecturer in security, University of Bath

"[The trip is part] weapons shopping tour, that's clear enough, and it seems to be working very well."

"But the other aspect, of course, is what you would call shaping the political battlefield."

"The politics are no less important for Zelenskyy than the purely military stuff."

Francois Heisbourg, French analyst on defence and security, International Institute for Strategic Studies

An explosion is seen in Kyiv, Ukraine on May 16. Gleb Garanich/Reuters

 

The U.K. has pledged hundreds more air defence missiles, along with attack drones with a range of over 200 kilometres. When Ukraine's leader met President Emmanual Macron during his trip, France committed to supply Ukraine with dozens of light tanks and armoured vehicles, as well as unspecified air defence systems. President Zelenskyy also visited Germany where talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz led to another $3 billion of equipment, including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.

 

All of which Mr. Zelenskyy is grateful for, but his goal is the forming of an international "fighter jet coalition" to support Ukraine with planes. That plan abuts NATO's concerns of the alliance's role in the war escalating, and risking a much wider conflict. Washington has thus far resisted Ukraine's request for U.S.-made F-16s to supplement Ukraine's jets dating from the Soviet era.

 

Although the U.K. has no F-16s, it will give Ukrainian pilots basic training on Western-standard jets this summer. It is the quest and confirmation for long-term commitments that Mr. Zelensky was aiming for in this trip, apart and above the steady stream of equipment the West has already supplied. 

"They should be able to carry out the offensive with what they already have, but that's not enough to sustain it over the long term."

"And they'll need the long term to make the Russians crack."

Retired French Vice Admiral Michel Olgagaray, former head of France's centre for higher military studies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s flew to London on Monday following a three-hour working dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday | Carl Court/Getty Images