Zelensky makes 'desperate plea' for fighter planes in call to US

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has made a ‘desperate plea’ to the US for fighter planes as Kremlin troops continue to bombard civilians with artillery.

The president told 280 lawmakers his country’s air force was destroyed on the first day of Vladimir Putin’s invasion, a member of Congress said to be on the video call claims.

‘The battle is often won in the air’, he apparently warned, as he thanked America for the exisiting sanctions placed on Russia.

But the politician also wants the US to ban oil imports from Moscow and told his audience the invasion would have never happened if sanctions were in place by October, the source told CBS News.

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The prospect of a no-fly zone over Ukraine was also raised as Russia warns it would consider this as Nato having ‘participation in the armed conflict’.

In dramatic remarks, Mr Zelensky warned Putin will target Nato members Poland and Lithuania next.

He is said to have opened by telling members of Congress: ‘this might be the last time you see me alive’ after reportedly surviving three assassination attempts.

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Both Democrats and Republicans are believed to be impressed with Zelensky’s leadership, with Congressman Mike Quigley saying he marvelled at ‘how calm he was, how courageous he is’.

‘When everybody turned on their microphones … there was extraordinary, universal, strong, bipartisan, bicameral support’, he said.

‘This was historic, right — he leader of a free, democratic sovereign country speaking live from his capital when it is under siege and with the realization that he has been made targeted for death by an autocratic despot.’

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said officials were ‘working hard in a bipartisan fashion to get all the assistance the administration has requested for the Ukrainian people quickly’.

This is believed to be over $10 billion in economic, humanitarian and security funds.

It comes after a US defence official insisted on Friday Ukraine had a ‘significant majority’ of its military aircraft available.

Experts are said to have been surprised by the fact the air force is still flying, given that Ukraine is vastly outmatched by Russia’s military.

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