UKRAINE’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will pay a surprise visit to Ukrainian troops being trained in Dorset later this afternoon.

President Zelensky will be joined by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a visit to Lulworth, it has been confirmed. 

The two men will be at the base to see his country’s troops being trained by the British armed forces.

Read more: President Zelensky and Rishi Sunak meet Ukrainian troops in Dorset

Earlier today, Mr Zelensky met with King Charles III and gave an address to parliamentarians in which he pleaded with the Government to provide fighter jets in aid of the war effort.

In an unannounced visit, Mr Zelensky used an address to Parliament to thank the UK for its steadfast support since Russia invaded.

But, as he presented a Ukrainian fighter ace’s helmet to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, he said more planes were needed to defeat Vladimir Putin’s forces.

It was only Mr Zelensky’s second time travelling overseas since the Russian invasion, after he held talks in the United States and Poland during a trip in December.

Addressing a packed Westminster Hall, Mr Zelensky told parliamentarians: “We know freedom will win. We know Russia will lose.

“And we really know that the victory will change the world and this will be a change that the world has long needed.

“The United Kingdom is marching with us towards the most important victory of our lifetime. It will be a victory over the very idea of the war.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to train Ukrainian pilots, paving the way for them eventually being able to fly sophisticated Nato-standard jets, but that is seen as a long-term ambition