LIVE UPDATES: Macron Reportedly Says Fighter Jets Cannot Be Delivered to Kiev in Coming Weeks

Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Thursday that he would work on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's request for the delivery of MiG-29 fighter jets and other weapons to Ukraine.

"He asked for our help. Asked for MiG-29 aircraft. I told him that we would be discussing this at home and the public would be informed of the results of these negotiations," Heger said, as quoted by local media.

The prime minister said negotiations on further military aid to Ukraine would continue, adding that this includes negotiations at the European level as well due to the fact that MiG-29 aircraft would have been supplied by Slovakia as part of the EU mechanism that provides for the payment of military equipment for Ukraine.

Heger said that forthcoming negotiations would reveal when fighter jets could be delivered to Ukraine, adding that he has already informed Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad about Zelensky's request.

Moscow has no faith in the statements of the Ukrainian authorities about the "guarantees" not to use Western military equipment to strike deep into the Russian territory, Aleksey Polishchuk, the head of the Russian foreign ministry's second department for the Commonwealth of Independent States, told Sputnik.

"Recently, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Kiev was ready to provide Western countries with guarantees that their weapons would not be used to strike deep into the territory of Russia. Such statements cannot be trusted since the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly demonstrated their deceit and lack of agreement," Polishchuk said.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Thursday that she would not rule out the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine.

"I don’t want to rule out anything in this stage. I think it’s very important that we will send a clear message and signal to Ukraine," Marin told the media after the European Council summit.

On Thursday, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola urged EU countries to consider providing Kiev with long-range missile systems and military aircraft.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday did not rule out the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine but said that Kiev has other priorities now.

As Macron said, fighter jets that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requests from Europe "at the moment do not meet the needs" of the Ukrainian military, as quoted by a French broadcaster.

The president said he was "absolutely not ruling anything out," but fighter jets can under no circumstances be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks. Macron added he prefers to help Ukraine with other "priorities," such as the delivery of Caesar howitzers.

The United States is inadvertently contributing to civilian casualties by providing assistance, the resolution also said.

"We realize that the coming weeks and months will probably be decisive. We must remain open-eyed, lucid and we must continue to provide maximum level of support," Michel said at a joint press conference with European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and Zelensky following the summit.

When asked if there is any possibility that he might go to Ukraine, he stressed: "There’s a possibility I may go to Poland, but that’s all."

De Croo added that Belgium had agreed a massive military assistance package for Ukraine, which "should not be underestimated."

"It is in the interests of all of us, both Ukrainians and Europeans, that Russia cannot make new missiles... So we need to take another step — to impose sanctions against the entire missile and drone industry, against that part of their IT industry that enables this terror," Zelensky said at the two-day Special European Council in Brussels.

"The result will be, sure, more support for Ukraine, providing more arms, more military support, more financial support," Borrell said ahead of the summit.

Zelensky signed an application for Ukraine's accession to the EU on February 28, 2022, four days after Russia launched its special military operation. On June 23, EU heads of state approved candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova. To start accession talks, the countries need to fulfill a number of conditions, including wide-ranging reforms.

"The director general has some new ideas, they need to be clarified. We need to discuss them and decide to what extent they meet the interests of the case. I believe that there will be a professional discussion with the participation of all interested Russian departments," Ulyanov said on the air of Russian broadcaster Rossiya 24.

"Currently, we are implementing a plan for the restoration and maintenance of Leopard 2 tanks. In accordance with the implementation of this plan, we will be able to ship three of them in the coming March," a local newspaper quoted Prime Minister António Costa as saying at a parliamentary hearing.