Meeting to include talks to protect Ukraine’s power grid as winter nears
President Zelenskyy and King Charles III inspect honour guard at Windsor Castle. Pic/PTI
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was set to hold talks in London on Friday with two dozen European leaders who have pledged military help to protect his country from future Russian aggression if a ceasefire stops the more than three-year war. The meeting hosted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also due to discuss ways of helping protect Ukraine’s power grid from Russia’s almost daily drone and missile attacks as winter approaches, enhancing Ukrainian air defences, and supplying Kyiv with longer-range missiles that can strike deep inside Russia.
The talks aim to step up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding momentum to measures in recent days that have included a new round of sanctions from the US and European countries that take aim at Russia’s vital oil and gas export earnings.
Putin has so far resisted efforts to push him into negotiating a peace settlement with Zelenskyy and has argued that Russia’s all-out invasion of its smaller neighbour is legitimate. Russia has also been adept at finding loopholes in Western sanctions.
That unbending stance has exasperated Western leaders. “Time and again we offer Putin the chance to end his needless invasion, to stop the killing and recall his troops, but he repeatedly rejects those proposals and any chance of peace,” Starmer said in written comments ahead of Friday’s meeting.
Zelenskyy and Starmer are expected to be joined at the Foreign Office in London by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. About 20 other leaders are to join via video link in the meeting of the group dubbed the Coalition of the Willing.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday its forces downed 111 Ukrainian drones overnight, with debris causing damage to homes and infrastructure. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities said Russian artillery struck a residential block in the southeastern city of Kherson on Friday, killing two people and injuring 11 others. Ukraine’s Air Force reported intercepting and jamming 72 out of 128 Russian strike and decoy drones fired at Ukraine overnight.
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No. of people killed in Russian attacks in Kherson
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