Subscribe here: [ Ссылка ] Ukrainian president said his intelligence services had intercepted Russian plan to ‘establish control over Moldova’ in historic address. Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged European leaders to speed up weapons delivery and open EU membership talks with Ukraine this year, in a highly symbolic visit to Brussels, where he said Russia was trying to annihilate “the Ukrainian-European way of life”.

Addressing the EU’s 27 leaders in person for the first time since the Russian invasion last February, Zelenskiy warned that his services had intercepted a plan from Russian intelligence to destroy Moldova. The intercepted document “shows who, when and how was going to break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova,” Zelenskiy said, adding that he had immediately warned Moldova’s president Maia Sandu. His claim could not be independently verified.

Zelenskiy said it was unknown whether Moscow had “given an order to follow that plan” but it was “a very similar plan” to others tried in Ukraine and elsewhere.

After the invasion of Ukraine, Moldova’s government warned it was facing “a very dangerous new moment” with forces trying to stoke tensions in the breakaway republic of Transnistria, a breakaway region controlled by pro-Moscow separatists, which borders Ukraine.

Zelenskiy’s meeting with EU leaders was the third leg of his European tour, following stops in London and Paris on Tuesday, where he urged the leaders of Britain, France and Germany to supply Ukraine with fighter jets.

Asked directly about his meeting with France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz on Wednesday night, Zelenskiy told reporters he had “a positive impression” but preferred not to make public statements about what had been discussed on weapons: “All I would say is we are working towards the enhancement of our capabilities.” Zelenskiy also said his visit to London had “achieved results”. Downing Street, however, said on Wednesday the UK would not send fighter jets if there was a risk to British safety.

Several EU leaders are cautious about Zelenskiy’s request for fighter jets. Asked about this possibility, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, said nothing was ruled out “as long as there is not an article 5 situation between Nato and Russia”. Nato article 5 enshrines the principle of collective defence, meaning that an attack on one is considered an attack on all.

Emmanuel Macron said he had not discussed fighter jets with Zelenskiy on Wednesday in Paris and would not share “the Ukrainian plan”. The “next weeks and months will be decisive,” the French president said, adding it was necessary to prioritise “useful deliveries” for the Ukrainian war effort rather than “commitments that arrive very late or very far off”.

The day before the summit, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, criticised “the public competition” among some countries over who could send more weapons to Ukraine. “What harms our unity is a public competition to outdo each other along the lines of battle tanks, submarines, aircraft,” he said.

Meanwhile, Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, suggested the EU should consider the joint purchasing of weapons for Ukraine, modelled on the Covid vaccines programme, in order to ensure the faster delivery of equipment. “The price goes up with every delay, with every hesitation,” she said.

Before the EU summit, Zelenskiy received several standing ovations from MEPs as he addressed the European parliament with a paean to “the European way of life”, in which he referred to democratic values, respect for diversity and the rule of law.

“This is our Europe. These are our rules. This is our way of life,” he told the packed chamber of MEPs in another speech well attuned to his audience. “I’m here in order to defend our people’s way home.”

He said Russia was trying to annihilate the “Ukrainian European way of life” through total war, describing the invading country as “the most anti-European force of the modern world”.

Wearing a plain black sweater embossed with United 24 (Ukraine’s war effort fundraising programme), Zelenskiy was presented with a European flag by the European parliament’s president, Roberta Metsola, who said “Ukraine is Europe”. Both appeared moved as they listened to Ukraine’s national anthem and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the European anthem.

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