Rishi Sunak has insisted that "nothing is off the table” when it comes to the question of providing fighter jets to Ukraine. Speaking during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday (February 8), the Prime Minister said that sending warplanes was “part of the conversation” between the pair.
His comment came after Downing Street confirmed Mr Sunak had asked Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to investigate what jets the UK could potentially give to Ukraine in its struggle against invading Russian forces. Even before Mr Zelensky stepped foot on British soil, No 10 had announced that the UK would start training Ukrainian air force pilots as part of a long-term strategy to safeguard Kyiv’s future.
It represented a change in approach, with Downing Street previously arguing it would take too long to train pilots to fly Western fighter planes to have an impact on the war in eastern Europe.
