Three weeks before a summit on peace in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his American counterpart Joe Biden not to miss this meeting, during a trip to Belgium where he was promised strengthened support in the war with Russia.
“His absence would be like applauding Putin,” said the Ukrainian president about the tenant of the White House while Washington has not confirmed the latter’s arrival at the summit planned in Switzerland on June 15 and 16.
Some 90 countries have already confirmed their participation.
The countries which are avoiding the summit are “satisfied” with the war which has ravaged Ukraine for more than two years, continued Mr. Zelensky, alongside Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. He also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting to “fail” this future summit.
At the same time, the Kremlin considered it “absurd” to organize this summit without Russian participation.
On the occasion of a short visit to Brussels, timed between a trip to Madrid on Monday and another to Lisbon on Tuesday afternoon, MM. Zelensky and De Croo initialed a bilateral cooperation agreement including the delivery by Belgium of 30 F-16 aircraft by 2028.
“You deserve the right tools to protect your population against a totally illegitimate attack,” said the Belgian Prime Minister.
Mr. Zelensky specified that this “long-term” military assistance agreement included aid from Belgium in arms, ammunition and armored vehicles amounting to 977 million euros (more than CA$1.4 billion) on the only year 2024.
He also said that the first of the thirty promised F-16s would arrive “already this year”.
The Belgian government, which is still waiting to take possession of the F-35s ordered to gradually replace its aging fleet of F-16s, said for its part it hoped for a first delivery to kyiv “if possible before the end of the year”.
Last week, Belgian Defense linked the possibility of delivering F-16s to two parameters: the delivery of F-35s from the American manufacturer Lockheed Martin to the Belgian Air Force, and that of spare parts to put back in service the Belgian F-16s currently immobilized for maintenance.
“Perfectly possible”
Belgium participates in a coalition with several other European countries (Netherlands, Denmark, Norway) which have promised to deliver F-16s to Ukraine. As a first step, Belgian Defense is currently training Ukrainian pilots and technicians in Denmark to use these devices.
After an interview with the Belgian King Philippe, Volodymyr Zelensky concluded his Belgian trip at midday with a meeting with Belgian instructors and technicians specializing in F-16s, at the Melsbroek military airport.
Another hot topic: kyiv’s pressing request that its Western partners authorize it to use Western longer-range weapons against targets in Russia.
On Tuesday, Josep Borrell, head of EU diplomacy, urged the Twenty-Seven to agree on this subject. He considered this use on Russian soil of Western weapons supplied to Ukraine “perfectly possible”.
The question is beginning to be debated among kyiv’s allies, but the Americans and Europeans have so far refused such a prospect, fearing an escalation, which gives a certain advantage to the Kremlin forces.
For the Belgian Prime Minister, the agreement signed Tuesday with kyiv “is very clear”: the weapons and aircraft supplied must be “used by the Ukrainian defense forces on Ukrainian territory”.
Tuesday afternoon Volodymyr Zelensky was expected in Portugal to meet with Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. On the agenda in particular: the signing of another bilateral security agreement.
Ukraine needs four times more air defense systems and “120 to 130” F-16 fighter jets to be able to claim to end Russia’s dominance in the air, the Ukrainian president estimated ago 10 days in an interview with AFP.