Zelenskiy wants jets. The west should think very carefully before giving them to him | Simon Jenkins

To grant Ukraine's request carries a huge risk - better to help it gain battlefield advantage as a basis for peace talks

Heroic rhetoric has its moment in every conflict. We have freedom, give us wings to protect it," cried Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in pleading support from the nations of Europe in Westminster Hall on Wednesday. He faces a renewed battle to drive Russian tanks off his land - all his land - in the spring. His cause is just and it is desperate. He now wants jets.

At such a time, war has all the best tunes. It ridicules argument, honours danger and jeers at caution. Over the past year, the western powers under Nato auspices have struggled to contain the battles in Ukraine from escalating into precisely what cold war theorists most feared. That is a destabilisation of the balance of power in Europe, leading to a widespread and catastrophic conflict.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist