PARIS - France and Germany have the opportunity to be “game changers” in the war against Russia by not hesitating in delivering heavy weapons and modern fighter jets to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a visit to Paris on Wednesday.
Mr Zelensky arrived in Paris for a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz after holding talks in Britain earlier in the day where he urged his Western allies to give Ukraine “wings for freedom” by sending warplanes to help turn the tide against Moscow.
He travels to Brussels on Thursday where he will attend a European leaders summit.
“We have very little time. I’m talking now about the weapons needed for peace and to stop the war started by Russia,” Mr Zelensky said.
“France and Germany have the potential to be game changers, and that’s how I see our talks today. The sooner we get heavy long range weapons and our pilots get modern planes... the quicker this Russian aggression will end.”
Western countries have scaled up their pledges of military aid for Ukraine this year with promises of hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles as well as longer range weapons, but have so far refused to deliver Western-made combat planes.
Mr Macron said operational matters would be discussed during the dinner, reiterated that Russia could not be allowed to win the war and that Paris like Berlin would continue to support as long as necessary the military support Ukraine needed to secure its future.
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting in Belgium, Mr Scholz sought to stress Kyiv’s position in Europe.
“I am taking a clear message to Brussels: Ukraine belongs to the European family,” Mr Scholz said.
After major Ukrainian gains in the second half of 2022, Russia has recovered momentum, sending tens of thousands of freshly mobilised troops to the front. They have made incremental progress in relentless winter battles, which both sides describe as some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.
Kyiv says it expects Moscow to broaden that offensive with a big push as the Feb 24 anniversary of the invasion approaches.
Russia launched its “special military operation” last year to combat what it describes as a security threat from Ukraine’s ties to the West, and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian provinces. It says Western military aid will prolong the war.
Western fighter jets are at the top of Ukraine’s wish list.
US President Joe Biden said last month Washington would not send US F-16s to Ukraine, and British officials have said their jets require too much training to be useful now.
France and Poland are among countries that have kept the door open to sending jets as part of a collective Western decision.
The United States is expected to announce a US$2.65 billion weapons package in coming days that would include new rockets with bombs that double the range of rockets it sent last year.
That would put all of Russia’s supply lines in mainland Ukraine, as well as parts of the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula within firing distance. REUTERS
