Air alerts issued for two hours as Kyiv defended itself from drone attack; Ukrainian president to meet with leaders after Nato membership rebuff
Zelenskiy set to meet key Nato leaders
Zelenskiy will hold a series of bilateral meetings with Nato leaders today, after they declared his country’s future lay inside the alliance but rebuffed his call for a timeline to membership.
Zelenskiy will join the Nato leaders on the second day of their summit in Vilnius for an inaugural session of the Nato-Ukraine Council, a body established to upgrade relations between Kyiv and the 31-member transatlantic military alliance.
He will also meet separately with US President Joe Biden as he seeks more arms and ammunition from the United States and other Nato nations to fight the war triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
The United States, Britain, France and Germany are expected to issue assurances to Kyiv of long-term security support in the form of advanced weaponry, training and other military aid, possibly soon after the summit ends, according to officials.Russia strikes Kyiv for second night in a row
Russia launched a wave of kamikaze drone attacks on Kyiv and its region for a second night in row, Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday, hours before Zelenskiy was due to meet Nato leaders at a summit that has backed Ukraine‘s independence.
According to preliminary information from Ukrainian military, there were no immediate reports of casualties or major destruction. All drones were intercepted before hitting their targets.
“The 504th day of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. The enemy launched another air attack on the capital,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration said on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters witnesses in Kyiv heard blasts resembling the sound of air defence systems intercepting aerial objects. It was not immediately known how many of the Iranian Shahed drones Russia launched and how many were intercepted.
Air alerts were issued for more than two hours over Kyiv and across Ukraine and fighting continued as Nato leaders gathered for a summit which the Kremlin criticised, warning that Moscow would respond to protect its own security.
A night earlier, Russia launched 28 drones on Kyiv and the southern port of Odesa, with Ukraine‘s air defence shooting down 26 of the Shahed drones.
