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European leaders travel by government jets for talks with Trump and Zelenskyy

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European leaders travel by government jets for talks with Trump and Zelenskyy
Policy
Webp 5
Vladimir Putin, President | Russia

It has been over three years since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, leading to significant damage to aviation assets, including the destruction of the Antonov An-225. In this context, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington.

The meeting follows a recent encounter between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Several European leaders are traveling to the United States to show support for Zelenskyy’s efforts to secure peace in Ukraine, resulting in numerous government jets crossing the North Atlantic.

According to online reports, Zelenskyy traveled on a Ukrainian Government-owned Airbus Corporate Jets ACJ319 (registration UR-ABA). Tracking data from AirNav Radar indicates that the aircraft departed Melsbroek Air Base in Belgium at 18:06 local time yesterday and landed at Joint Base Andrews (ADW) in Maryland at 20:24 local time after an eight-hour flight. The jet had earlier flown from Krakow to Melsbroek via Rzeszow. Fleet information from Planespotters.net shows that UR-ABA is nearly 18 years old and was originally delivered to JetAlliance before being acquired by the Ukrainian Government in December 2008.

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Other European leaders are also en route to Washington. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz boarded a German Government ACJ319 (registration 15+01), which flew from Cologne Bonn Airport to Munich, then onward to Glasgow Prestwick International Airport before heading west toward Washington DC. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is making a similar trip; his A321LR (G-GBNI) departed Glasgow for the US at 08:00.

Sky News reports that French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will join Starmer and Merz. The Kyiv Independent notes that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also attend.

This influx has led to increased activity among European government jets flying across the Atlantic. For example, a German Air Force Bombardier Global 5000 (registration 14+02) left Brussels just ahead of Zelenskyy's plane and landed at Andrews AFB yesterday evening. On social media platform X, user MonitorX99800 reported that Macron arrived on an Airbus A330-200 (F-RARF), while ItaMilRadar indicated Meloni traveled from Rome on an Italian Air Force Airbus A319 (MM62209).

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