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Zelenskiy pleads for ‘security guarantees’ for Ukraine and Moldova Zelenskiy hails ‘powerful support’ for Ukraine at Moldova summit
(about 8 hours later)
Ukrainian president tells summit of European leaders in Moldova that countries need protection from Russia Ukrainian president speaks of the importance of overturning Russia’s air supremacy with Patriot missiles and F-16s
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged the international community to put concrete “security guarantees” in place in Ukraine and its neighbour Moldova to give the countries enduring protection against Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had received “powerful support” from allies attending a summit in Moldova as it emerged F-16 fighter jets could be made available to Ukraine within six months.
His plea at the start of a summit of 47 European leaders in Moldova came as officials confirmed that an 11-year-old girl, her mother and another woman had been killed in a Russian missile strike on Kyiv early on Thursday. Closing the conference of 46 European leaders held at a castle 12 miles (19km) from the border with Ukraine, the country’s president spoke of the importance of overturning Russian’s supremacy in the air with a “sky shield” involving a combination of Patriot missiles and F-16s.
First to arrive at the summit in Moldova, the Ukrainian president said he would also be speaking on Thursday to “partner countries” about putting in place a “potential air jets coalition” and a coalition providing Patriot missiles. He also won support from Rishi Sunak in his battle for accelerated membership of Nato.
“That is our new initiative and we really need it,” he said after a 20-minute bilateral meeting with the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu. “Why Patriots? Because Patriots have shown the world they can take down any kind of Russian missiles. Our proposal is to build a sky shield over the European continent. It’s important to build it for the whole of Europe, starting with our territory,” he told reporters at the European political summit in Chișinău.
“I think security guarantees are very important not only for Ukraine, [but also] for our neighbours, for Moldova because of Russia, their aggressions in Ukraine and potential aggression in other parts of Europe,” he said. After an 11-year-old and her mother and another woman were killed in overnight missile attacks on Kyiv, Zelenskiy said the “protection of our skies” was vital because it would first and foremost protect the people of Ukraine and “our children”.
On Wednesday Emmanuel Macron called on the international community to offer Ukraine “tangible and credible” Israeli-style security guarantees, saying it was in the rest of the continent’s interest. Several countries, including the UK, Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium, have said they want to help procure F-16s for Ukraine. The US president, Joe Biden, endorsed training programmes last month for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, but the training will take months to complete and western countries have not yet said they will supply the jets.
“We have to build something between the security provided to Israel and full-fledged membership,” said Macron. Senior sources involved in the F-16 coalition said the jets could be operational in six months’ time and be useful during the war or as a stabilising factor in a postwar scenario.
Security guarantees are seen as a long-term alliance with US and European defence capabilities without full membership of Nato, which is not possible while war is ongoing as it would pull the organisation into the conflict on the ground. The Dutch and Polish prime ministers progressed the timeline for delivery of the planes during a roundtable discussion that also included their Danish, Belgian, Norwegian and Swedish counterparts.
Some have suggested that countries including the US, UK, France, Germany and others could place their own troops in Ukraine postwar, in the same way that Nato offers security to member states that border Russia. The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said the meeting had gone very well. “We agreed to train Ukrainian pilots. Of course the UK does not have F-16s, but you have fighter jets and Rishi Sunak agreed to participate in the training exercise for Ukrainian pilots, training also for the logistics around these F-16s, the maintenance, introducing them to the Ukrainian aircraft system. We all agreed the next steps.”
Zelenskiy restated his belief in the importance of Ukraine’s and Moldova’s membership in Nato with the support of its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, which would allow them to strengthen their national security against Russian aggression. Russia has said that providing Ukraine with F-16s would be a “colossal risk” for western nations.
Tight security surrounds the summit, which is being held just 12 miles (20km) from the Ukrainian border at the Mimi Castle vineyard, which is also 3 miles from Transnistria, a separatist region of Moldova where Russian troops are stationed. The Moldova conference gave Zelenskiy an opportunity to see most of his main allies in one afternoon after he drove to the summit from an overnight visit to Odesa.
Access to the main airport was severely restricted with British and Nato planes patrolling the skies as part of an air defence exercise, Air Bastion 2023. Sunak said: “I agree with the Nato secretary general that Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato and what we are also talking to Ukraine about right now is making sure they have all the support they need for a successful counteroffensive.”
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Top of the agenda is Ukraine but the recent violence in Kosovo will also feature, and France and Germany will host a round table involving the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in an effort to broker a peace deal between the two countries. The British prime minister said he was proud of the UK’s record in supporting Ukraine. “We want to make sure we put in place security arrangements for Ukraine for the long term, so we send a very strong signal to Vladimir Putin that we are not going anywhere, we are here to stay and we will continue backing Ukraine – not just now but for years into the future,” he said.
Sunak has made migration his top priority and will co-chair a working group with Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, with brief talks anticipated with the leaders of Spain, Bulgaria and Poland. Zelenskiy’s plea for security guarantees for his country and Moldova came 24 hours after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, had called on the international community to make a “tangible and credible” offer.
Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said he “absolutely” agreed with Sunak that “migration should be high on the agenda along with efforts to build a coalition to provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Such guarantees were in the rest of the continent’s interest, he said. “We have to build something between the security provided to Israel and full-fledged membership,” he said.
“Migration has to be high on the agenda. Of course number one has to be Ukraine and Moldova, there’s no doubt about it. We are working with the Brits on the F-16 fighter jet coalition but I agree with Rishi we also have to discuss migration and we will do so, absolutely.” Zelenskiy did not give details of the proposal but said he was in talks with “the US and other partners about the security guarantees compact”.
He also said EU leaders would be looking to “sketch out” the path for Ukraine’s future security, working with the “Danish and the British to begin with”, adding that Ukraine is in “urgent need of new Patriot systems”. “We do we need them because we are not in Nato. If we were, Russia would not attack us”.