KYIV – Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday asked the Group of Seven (G-7) nations to urgently supply his forces with air defence weapons after Russia rained down cruise missiles across Ukraine that killed at least 19 people.

Mr Zelensky also sought tough, new sanctions against Russia, and again ruled out talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He likewise asked the G-7 to support an international mission to the Ukraine-Belarus border.

“Russia is trying to directly draw Belarus into this war, playing a provocation that we are allegedly preparing an attack on this country,” he said.

His appeal to the leaders of the world’s most developed nations came just hours after Russia once again launched long-range air strikes on Tuesday, mostly targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Ukrainians took shelter underground after air raid sirens blared nationwide, and the country’s Emergency Ministry warned of “a high probability of rocket attacks” throughout the day.

By early afternoon, the intensity of the missile strikes did not appear to be as severe as on Monday.

Ukraine claimed to have shot down several of the missiles, but more than 300 of its localities were still without power.

There were also reports on Tuesday of Kyiv’s forces striking a substation in the southern region of the Belgorod on the border with Ukraine, leaving some 2,000 people without electricity.

Mass retaliatory strikes hit Ukraine nationwide on Monday, after Moscow blamed Kyiv for a blast on a bridge connecting Russia to Crimea, a peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukraine said Russian forces fired more than 80 missiles at its cities, including the capital Kyiv, damaging energy facilities in particular.  Parks, tourist sites and busy rush-hour streets were also hit.

Kyiv and its allies condemned Monday’s attacks.

United States President Joe Biden and other G-7 leaders convened on Tuesday to discuss what more they could do to support Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky told them air defence systems are his “No. 1 priority”.

Mr Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said on Tuesday that Mr Biden’s promises to supply advanced air defence systems to Ukraine will only extend the conflict and inflict more pain for Ukraine.  

He added that the deliveries would not change Moscow’s goals in its military operation in Ukraine. 

Tuesday’s missile strikes did not seem as intense as on Monday.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the main targets on Tuesday were energy facilities.

“They’ve hit many yesterday, and they hit the same and new ones today. These are war crimes planned well in advance and aimed at creating unbearable conditions for civilians – Russia’s deliberate strategy since months,” he wrote on Twitter.

The governor of the southern town of Mykolayiv said Russia seemed to have changed tactics.

“They launch rockets more than once, so that our people can wait and our air defence can work. But, at intervals, they launch significantly fewer rockets and keep people in shelters. What is this if not terror?” he said on national television. 

In Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s sixth-largest city, apartment blocks have been struck overnight at least three times in the past week, killing civilians while they slept.

In an overnight video address from the scene of one of the attacks in Kyiv, Mr Zelensky promised that Ukraine would keep fighting.

“We will do everything to strengthen our armed forces. We will make the battlefield more painful for the enemy,” he said. REUTERS, NYTIMES