Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for the leadership he says the UK has shown building an international coalition to help Ukraine procure F-16 fighter jets.
The pair met during a bilateral meeting on Saturday in Hiroshima, Japan, during the G7 summit, according to a readout from the Ukrainian Presidency.
Earlier this week, the UK and the Netherlands announced plans to build an "international coalition" to help Ukraine procure F-16 fighter jets "at this pivotal moment in the resistance to Putin’s invasion," a Downing Street readout said Tuesday.
Getting hold of F-16 fighter jets has been a key focus for the Ukrainian leader of late, emphasizing in a taped address to the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Monday that F-16s would help Ukraine in, “defending freedom.”
On Friday, US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders that he will support the joint effort and train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation aircrafts including F-16s, a stark turnaround from the US leader.