February 8, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Ukraine “cannot be left vulnerable for attack ever again,” in his opening remarks at a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. 

Sunak said, “we must arm Ukraine in the short term but bolster Ukraine in the long term,” while speaking in front of a Challenger 2 battle tank in Dorset. 

He said Ukrainian crews, who arrived in the UK last week, will be learning how to use Challenger 2 tanks “to defend Ukraine’s sovereign territory next month.” He also said the UK has agreed to expand its training program, which Sunak says has trained 10,000 troops in the last six months. 

Sunak also said the UK will be “accelerating the delivery of our equipment” to ensure reaches Ukraine’s frontline in the coming “days and weeks, not years.” 

President Zelensky thanked Sunak and the British people for standing with Ukraine during the press conference.

"Today it is very clear that we are standing together with Great Britain," Zelensky said. "Thank you to all the people in Great Britain, thank you for these 350 days of unity."

Before speaking, Zelensky and Sunak met with Ukrainian troops being trained in Dorset on Challenger 2 tanks. 

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said he spoke to his Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra on Wednesday "to coordinate our international steps as Russia's full-scale invasion nears its one-year mark."

Kuleba said in a tweet that he raised the issue of Ukraine's request for F-16 fighter jets. 

Some background: Top Ukrainian officials have been escalating their public lobbying campaign for F-16 fighter jets, arguing they need them urgently to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks.

US and European officials have similarly told CNN and said publicly that the F-16 fighter jets are impractical, and note that Ukraine has not been conducting many air missions with the fighter planes it already has because of the danger posed by Russia’s anti-aircraft systems, officials previously told CNN.

But most recently, the United Kingdom is "actively" considering whether to send British jets to Ukraine, the prime minister's official spokesperson said on Wednesday, according to the UK's PA Media news agency. No decision has been made yet, the agency said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will have a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels on Thursday, the prime minister’s office told CNN on Thursday. 

Meloni will be in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday to participate in an “extraordinary meeting of the European Council,” according to the official website of the Italian government.

Zelensky made a surprise visit to the UK on Wednesday, and later today, he is expected to travel to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived at Lulworth Camp, a British military facility in Dorset, England. 

Zelensky and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with Ukrainian troops being trained on Challenger 2 tanks. 

At a news conference during the visit, Zelensky thanked Sunak and the British people "for these 350 days of unity" and for standing with Ukraine.

Sunak pledged continued support to Ukraine, saying Zelensky's visit "underlines our two countries’ close and enduring friendship – we will always be by your side, our staunch and unwavering friends," the prime minister said in opening remarks at the news conference.

The Ukrainian president's meeting with the French and German leaders in Paris will highlight Kyiv's close coordination with its EU allies, a German government spokesperson said ahead of Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Paris on Wednesday evening.

Zelensky has a planned meeting with French President Emanual Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on his agenda as he travels to Paris after visiting the United Kingdom earlier Wednesday.

The meeting of the three leaders “stresses the close coordination among EU allies … in the question of continuous and rigorous support for Ukraine,” a German government spokesperson said, adding that this will be the third meeting for the trio since Scholz took office.

The three leaders first met in Brussels in the December 2021 — before Russia began its invasion — on the sidelines of the Eastern Partnership summit. Macron and Scholz also travelled to Kyiv in June 2022, alongside then-Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

The German government spokesperson said that “ties are close” between the three leaders, adding that “both leaders talk regularly to President Zelensky on the phone.”

Wednesday's meeting in Paris also comes a day before an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

The first battalion of Leopard 2 tanks delivered by Western allies could reach Ukraine by March or April of this year, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a press conference on Wednesday. 

Speaking during a visit to Warsaw, Poland, Pistorius said, "I think we could deliver one battalion in the first four months of this year, three months maybe — and then we have to proceed as fast as possible of course."

Pistorius noted that the battalion would consist of 31 tanks. 

The United Kingdom is "actively" considering whether to send British jets to Ukraine, the prime minister's official spokesman said on Wednesday, according to the UK's PA Media news agency. 

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace is investigating which aircraft could be given to Ukraine, but Downing Street maintained that no decision has yet been made on whether to supply the jets, the agency reported. 

"We've confirmed there will be a training program for Ukrainian pilots and the Defence Secretary is actively looking at whether we send jets," the spokesperson added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday. 

"We’ve all been worried about you and thinking about your country for so long, I can’t tell you," King Charles said. 

The pair greeted each other by shaking hands in the Palace's 1844 Room, and Zelensky said it was "a great honor to be here." 

The King went on to say that he heard the Ukrainian President had addressed both Houses of Parliament earlier on Wednesday. 

Zelensky responded that British lawmakers had been a "big support," and the King responded, "I'm so glad."

The pair met in private for a half-hour conversation about the war and Britain's support of Ukraine, according to Buckingham Palace. They were joined by the King’s principal private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, Andriy Yermak, and the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba.

He is slated to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris later Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in Paris Wednesday evening, according to the Élysée Palace.