Argentina looking to send fighter jets to help Ukraine's war effort

Argentine President Javier Milei is seeking to send fighter jets to Ukraine to assist the country in its war against Russia, Infobae reported on Wednesday. Argentine officials have already began the conversations and are set to continue them during a European trip by Defense Minister Luis Petri.

Concretely, the administration is in conversation with Western allies to potentially send five French Super Etentard planes it can't use due to lack of parts resulting from a British embargo from the Falklands War.

Argentina can't access the parts needed to eject the pilot's seat, something that has prevented the country from using the jets since they arrived to the country in 2019. For that reason, it's willing to trade the jets with France in exchange for other military assets.

The Emmanuel Macron government would then get the parts for the seat ejectors and send them to Ukraine, meaning Argentina wouldn't be directly sending the jets to Ukraine.

Macron, however, is in the middle of a domestic crisis as a result of his party's sound defeat in the European parliamentary elections. It's unclear whether his government will move swiftly on the issue as it campaigns to revert the loss in a new parliamentary election called by the President, which will take place in less than three weeks.

In the meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for more air defense help to counter Russian attacks. "Russia's greatest strategic advantage over Ukraine is superiority in the sky. It is missile and bomb terror that helps Russian troops advance on the ground," Zelensky told a attendants of a reconstruction conference in Berlin.

After almost a year of stalemate, Ukraine has been forced to abandon dozens of frontline settlements this spring, with Russian troops holding a significant advantage in manpower and resources, AFP reported this week.

Russian missile and drone barrages, including a major attack over the weekend, have stretched Ukraine's air defence capacity.

With the war at a critical juncture, Zelensky is ramping up a diplomatic offensive to shore up support. He will also address the German parliament and attend the G7 meeting in Italy later this week.

G7 leaders hope to agree a deal on using the profits from the interest on 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of frozen Russian central bank assets to help Kyiv.

After the G7 meeting Zelensky will head to Switzerland, where he will attend a peace summit on the war in Ukraine from Saturday.