Ukraine needs more military assistance from its allies.
President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force – the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson and the leaders of the Baltic States and Northern Europe.
"You know the kind of weapon we need. Everyone knows. You know what kind of defense measures we need. You know that our need is fighter jets and without your support, it would be very difficult. I'm very grateful but I want to say that we need more," he said. "Our people take trophies, we capture Russian equipment day and night. We take everything on the battlefield and send it back into battle. They even made the old Soviet equipment combat-ready, which did not work for us, and everything that we receive from you."
According to Zelensky, "the volume that you give… for one week we use in 20 hours."
"Because this is kind of war we’re facing. Scary and cruel. Because there are so many occupants here. We want you to help us and I would hope that you will be able to enhance that support and you will see how this will protect your security, your safety and how that will make a stable peace not only for us but for your countries," he added.
As reported earlier, on 8 March the Polish government agreed to transfer all its MiG-29 aircraft claimed by Ukraine to the US government. The jet fighters were supposed to be moved to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany and then handed to Ukraine.
However, The US stated later that it didn’t believe that Poland’s proposal was “a tenable one” and said it continued consultations. “The prospect of fighter jets "at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America" departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said.
Earlier, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the United States does not object to the transfer of aircraft to Ukraine.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the US decision to deny Ukraine transfer of Polish MiG-29 fighters was personally approved by President Biden, who vetoed the delivery of aircraft so as not to provoke Vladimir Putin to escalate the war