UK to train Ukrainian pilots 'as quickly as humanly possible' but Ben Wallace says no fighter jets in short term

9 February 2023, 10:30 | Updated: 9 February 2023, 17:20

The UK will train Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO jets "as quickly as humanly possible", Downing Street has said, but Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned this may not happen until "post-conflict".

Mr Wallace said that providing jets could take months and Britain will instead concentrate on sending long range missiles and drones.

Rishi Sunak, who promised further support for Ukraine Mr Zelensky's visit top the UK, said the offer of pilot training was a "first step", which could lead to the eventual supply of fighter planes.

"We're talking about further support, potentially with aircraft as well," the Prime Minister said.

"The important first step of that journey is to make sure that we provide the training for Ukrainian pilots to be able to use that very sophisticated equipment."

The UK is "exploring how quickly this can be done," No 10 said in a briefing.

Mr Zelenskyy asked the UK for jets on Wednesday, when he met with King Charles and Rishi Sunak and made a historic address to Parliament in Westminster Hall.

He addressed the European Parliament on Thursday after meeting with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz in Paris.

But despite his pleas, Mr Wallace said: "The first thing to recognise is that this is not a sort of immediate, 'have a look and hand over a whole load of aeroplanes'.

"Britain knows what Ukraine needs and is very happy to help in many ways trying to achieve the effect."

Read more: Send Ukraine jets and you're responsible for the consequences: Putin's chilling threat to UK after Zelenskyy's plea

He added: "If I gave away all the fighter jets, and all the tanks, that would mean taking them out of Estonia and taking them out of Britain, and there are lots of obligations here."

Mr Wallace was asked to weigh up what kind of help Britain can send Ukraine, having already pledged Challenger 2 tanks and AS-90 self-propelled artillery most recently. It also trains up Ukrainian soldiers.

The decision against sending Typhoon jets in the immediate term comes despite Mr Sunak saying "nothing is off the table" – though Downing Street later said it would not be practical to send them.

Read more: 'He's the best': Ukrainians react to Zelenskyy's visit to the UK

Mr Sunak's former boss Boris Johnson, who was close with Mr Zelenskyy and appears to be popular in Ukraine thanks to his early support for Kyiv, hit back at the idea.

Speaking after Mr Zelenskyy's speech, Mr Johnson agreed his message to the PM was "get on with it" and said: "The important thing now is that his message is heard. What he's asking for is the tools to finish the job – that's all he wants.

"He just wants the ability to use the long-range missiles - the deep fryers as they're called - to take out Putin's positions and he wants the ability to keep his country safe with more tanks and planes. His appeal was very, very interesting for the focus he put on aviation and on planes."

He added: "It can be done and the point I'd make is the faster we do it the better. The faster we do it, the bigger the saving in life, the bigger the saving in our defence expenditure.

"Ultimately once Putin is beaten in Ukraine, the world is going to be a much, much safer place, so helping the Ukrainians now is a massive down payment on future security."

Speaking after a huge round of applause at Westminster Hall, Mr Zelenskyy said fighter jets were key to fending off Russia.

He gave speaker of the House of Commons Sir Linsday Hoyle a white fighter jet helmet that said on the side: "We have freedom, give us wings to protect it."

He added: "I trust this symbol will help us with our next coalition, the coalition of planes... wings for freedom."