Zelensky pushes Brussels for fighter jets as Russia issues warning – latest

The Ukrainian military confirmed that Russian attacks remained intense yesterday in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Kyiv said that Moscow’s forces concentrated on the areas of Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut and Aviivka.

Air strikes and shelling also targeted the Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions in northern, northeastern and central Ukraine.

“Greetings Mr President, I would really like to hug you, but I’m not allowed,” the correspondent said to Mr Zelensky.

“Why not, please, do give me a hug,” the Ukrainian leader responded, stepping off stage to embrace her, as others applauded.

The journalist then asked Mr Sunak if he thought the UK’s decision to send military jets to the war-torn nation was taking “too long”.

The 79-year-old said during his speech that he “condemned” the invasion of the country but also the “provocateurs” whose actions, he claimed, led to the Russian invasion.

Responding to this, the Ukrainian security council delegate Sergiy Kyslytsya criticised Waters as just a “brick in the wall of Russian disinformation and propaganda”.

Rishi Sunak has said that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to the question of providing fighter jets to Ukraine.

The prime minister was speaking during a joint press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday and said sending warplanes was “part of the conversation” between the pair.

Mr Sunak told reporters during a press briefing at a Dorset military base: “When it comes to fighter combat aircraft, of course they are part of the conversation — indeed, we have been discussing that today and have been previously.

Downing Street has said that defence secretary Ben Wallace is considering what fast jets can be sent to Ukraine but it remains to be seen whether Kyiv will get the “powerful English planes” it wants.

These could be Typhoons – built by a British, German, Italian, Spanish and Austrian consortium; or F-35s – a joint project of the US, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Denmark and Canada – rather than alternative aircraft.

The warplanes the Ukrainians are most likely to get are American F-16s. This would make sense in terms of operational support and maintenance, and they are the type of plane the Ukrainians need, just as German Leopard 2s are the logical tanks for their army.

Read the full analysis by The Independent’s world affairs editor Kim Sengupta here:

Russia has issued a direct warning, stating that any move by the UK to send fighter jets to Ukraine would have consequences for both the continent and the rest of the world.

“Russia will find a way to respond to any unfriendly steps taken by the British side,” Russian news agency TASS quoted the Russian embassy in London as saying, adding that it warned such a move would have “military and political consequences for the European continent and the entire world”.

The warning came shortly after prime minister Rishi Sunak said that sending warplanes to Ukraine was “part of the conversation” between him and his Ukrainian counterpart in London, and that “nothing was off the table”.

Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine war on Thursday, 9 February.