KYIV/BRUSSELS, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy flew to Brussels on Thursday to lobby European Union leaders for more weapons – above all, fighter jets – and a quick start to talks for his country to join the EU.
After spending the night in Paris where he had dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he and Macron boarded Macron’s plane for the short flight to Brussels.
Josep Borrell, who chairs EU summits, told reporters the EU’s 27 national leaders would promise more military support for Ukraine.
While Zelenskiy is not likely to walk away with specific pledges that satisfy his request for warplanes and long range missiles, the visit gives him a chance to make his case in person.
Ukraine submitted its application to join the EU days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year, and now wants formal membership talks to start within months. Brussels has welcomed the bid but says the process is likely to take years.
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Zelenskiy’s European trip is just his second known time out of his country since the war began, following a surprise visit to Washington in December. He has been feted as a war-time hero by Western leaders that have backed Ukraine with weapons.
The tour began on Wednesday in London, where he won a pledge from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to train Ukrainian pilots on advanced NATO fighter jets, which Western countries have so far balked at supplying to Kyiv.
Although Britain stopped short of offering actual jets, the promise to train pilots to fly them was a clear step towards lifting that taboo. Sunak instructed his government to look into whether planes were available and said nothing was off the table.
At the meeting in Paris, Macron and Scholz also vowed continued support for Ukraine and heard Zelenskiy’s pitch for advanced arms.
“France and Germany have the potential to be game changers and that’s how I see our talks today,” Zelenskiy said. “The sooner we get heavy long range weapons and our pilots get modern planes … the quicker this Russian aggression will end.”
Russia’s embassy to Britain warned London against sending fighter jets to Ukraine, saying such a move would have ramifications for the entire world, TASS news agency reported.
QUEST FOR EU MEMBERSHIP TALKS
Kyiv is pushing hard to speed up the start of formal EU membership talks. A Ukrainian official said Kyiv was “absolutely sure the decision to start accession negotiations can be taken this year.”
[1/22] French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy leave for a summit in Brussels, at the Military Airport Villacoublay in Velizy-Villacoublay, France February 9, 2023. Mohammed Badra/Pool via REUTERS
Some EU member states want to give Ukraine the morale boost that would come with opening the talks, but others are cautious, stressing that would-be members have high hurdles to meet, such as cracking down on corruption, before talks can begin.
Whatever the time-frame, the leaders are still likely to stress their support for Kyiv’s eventual membership.
“I am taking a clear message to Brussels: Ukraine belongs to the European family,” Germany’s Scholz said in Paris.
New sanctions against Russia are also likely to be discussed in Brussels. Scholz said on Wednesday in Berlin that the EU will tighten sanctions against Moscow again near the war’s anniversary.
INTENSE FIGHTING IN EAST
On the ground in Ukraine, Russian forces are trying to take full control of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Ukrainian military command said in its morning report on Thursday.
It said that over past 24 hours, Russian troops maintained offensives in the regions of Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Novopavlivka and Vuhledar.
Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of the mostly Russian-occupied eastern Luhansk province, described a major new Russian assault around Kreminna, along a northern stretch of the eastern front.
The Russians “are trying to build on their success by pushing through out defenders’ defences,” he told Ukrainian television. “So far they have had no significant success, our defence forces are holding firmly there.”
The Wagner mercenary group, which has spearheaded Russia’s assault on the Donetsk town of Bakhmut, has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Thursday.
Wagner has recruited thousands of prisoners with promises of pardons. Kyiv and Western countries say huge numbers of them have been killed in human wave attacks around Bakhmut.
After major Ukrainian gains on the ground 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 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. Ukraine and the West say Russia’s invasion is an unprovoked land grab.
Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Cynthia Osterman and Peter Graff; Editing Michael Perry
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