UKRAINE urgently needs fighter jets and full membership of NATO, said former president Petro Poroshenko.

He told GB News: “I can tell you there are never enough weapons. We have enough weapons to withstand Putin but not enough to throw him out of Ukraine.

“Point number one is weapons, and we need jet fighters just to stop Russian dominance in Ukrainian airspace.

“But we definitely urgently need ammunition for armoured personnel carriers, for offensive operations with long range missiles.”

In an interview during Friday Morning with Esther McVey and Philip Davies, he said: “We should stop Putin from financing the war and this would be another strong motivation for Putin to come to the negotiating table after withdrawing Russian troops from Ukraine.

“As well as financial sanctions, there should be justice for the military criminals, they should be behind bars.

“We need financial assistance and full membership of NATO…I want to use this opportunity because just today the General Secretary of NATO Jens Stoltenberg invited Ukraine to participate in the July summit of NATO in Vilnius.

“I’m absolutely praying and call on all leaders of NATO member states – please give an invitation to NATO for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people. This is a win-win situation.”

Mr Poroshenko continued: “I tell you from the Donbas very close to the front line, together with Ukrainian soldiers, who are the heroes of the last nine years.

“Can you imagine that Ukraine has lost dozens and dozens of thousands of innocent civilians, from Bucha to Mariupol, 8 million Ukrainians have gone abroad?

“Two and a half million Ukrainian children go to schools abroad because of your solidarity.”

He added: “This is a humanitarian disaster. Additional 7 million people go from Donbas to the western part of Ukraine.

“We lost 35% of our economy, we lost 50% of our critical energy infrastructure, and 70% of our iron and steel industry.

“This is the most dangerous and difficult year in our history, but this price you can pay for protecting the Western world.”

He added: “Delivering tanks on the front line, this is the absolutely important role of Ukraine and we are very happy that people in Great Britain, people in Europe, people around the world understand that you are not simply assisting Ukraine.

“You invest in global security, stable security and the fact that we should win.

“Your leaders, including your Prime Minister together with the US president, European leaders, demonstrate global leadership and I keep my fingers crossed that we should bring victory faster.”