Zelensky offers U.S. congressmen option of how to send warplanes, shut skies

This was announced by journalist and TV presenter, expert on international politics Dmytro Anopchenko, who spoke during a live broadcast from the United States at an ongoing telethon set up by the Ukrainian TV channels, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to the journalist, nothing official has been announced about the Zoom call in Ukraine due to its confidential nature so the details were offered by sources from Congress.

"The president said he believes that Russia will not stop in Ukraine, pushing its way further to Poland and Lithuania. And that is why Ukraine is now offering the option that Zelensky’s voiced. This is an option for the United States to hand over its F-16 fighter jets to Poland and Lithuania, and for Poland and Lithuania – to be able to hand its SUs and MIGs to Ukraine.

According to the journalist, the president explained that, if Canada or the United States had already handed Ukraine some state-of-the-art aircraft, Ukrainian pilots would have to spend some time training. And if the offered exchange option works out, our air force aces could start operating the new planes immediately.

According to Anopchenko, Zelensky asked for more lethal aid, talked about sanctions - that the United States introduce a veto or a moratorium on the purchase of Russian oil, and insisted that Mastercard and Visa withdraw from Russia.

The second part of the conversation, the journalist says, was the issue of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

"I was told that the President said: either give us planes or close the sky. Also, he told congressmen that it was the aerial advantage that could cost a lot in this war. The fact is that neither the Pentagon nor the White House is in a hurry with this decision, remaining very careful, as they are concerned that, if the no-fly zone is introduced and a Russian plane violates the ban, someone - the United States or NATO - will have to actually shoot it down. This, in turn, would mean a direct conflict between NATO or U.S. and Russia. And this is, actually, as they say in the U.S., World War 3… And that's why this conversation was not an easy one," he said.

Anopchenko said he now heard from congressmen that they were working on a half-baked version that could be adopted after talks with both the administration and the Pentagon. "For example, congressmen say: maybe let's think about closing the sky over Kyiv, or let's look into shutting it over Kyiv and over the south of Ukraine," he said.

He also added that, according to his sources, absolutely everyone who took part in the call - about 280 congressmen - expressed their support for Ukraine and were all surprised by what President Zelensky told them: that the Russian forces, who had been taken prisoner, were confused and demoralized, that some of them escape from their own convoys and some claim they didn’t know they would be deployed to take part in an actual war.

"It was a revelation for American congressmen. Many didn’t think that the Russian army was so demoralized. It was important to them. As for the planes, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said that he would personally address the issue," Anopchenko said.

The journalist also said that there was already an official reaction on the part Congress.

"They do not comment on what they said, but they  – Democrats in the Senate – note that they support Ukraine, that this support is bipartisan, and that in the near future they are going to allocate for Ukraine $10 billion – that’s for humanitarian and military needs, and for refugees. This amount will come from different funds, through different channels, but by and large, they will look into the no-fly zone," the journalist said.

At the same time, he stressed that the Zoom call was unprecedented as such as no foreign leader had ever proposed to hold talks with congressmen via this platform. The Ukrainian embassy sent out invitations to all congressmen, and about 280 joined. Ambassador Oksana Markarova specifically asked participants not to post or report anything about the call.

"They said that this was for security reasons, so that nobody was able to hack the call or eavesdrop, first of all, Russian intelligence, so that they could not hinder it. That’s along with geolocation threats given that this was a live event – this would allow identifying the president’s exact location. And that is why the whole thing was kept in high secrecy," Anopchenko said.