Zelensky asks Europe for more help as Russia again pounds Ukraine with drones

GRANADA, Spain – President Volodymyr Zelensky told more than 40 European leaders gathered in Spain on Thursday he was confident of the US’ continued support, as he asked for their continued assistance and more arms to help him fight against Russian aggression.

In an emotional speech, Mr Zelensky said schoolchildren in Kharkiv in east Ukraine were learning remotely or attending classes underground in subway stations because of air raids.

“Until there is a fully effective air defence system, children cannot attend school,” he told the European Political Community summit hosted in Spain’s Granada, some 4,000km west from Kharkiv.

He voiced confidence in continued US support despite what he called a “political storm” there recently after aid to Ukraine

did not make the cut for a last-minute deal in Washington

to avoid a government shutdown.

“I am confident in America. They are strong people with strong institutions, and a strong democracy,” he said.

Mr Zelensky said President Vladimir Putin should not be allowed to beef up his military or else Russia could attack beyond Ukraine by 2028.

“Let only Putin’s ambitions be a ruin, not our countries, not our cities. Children of every country deserve to be safe. Everywhere in the country, not just in the subway, not just in underground shelters, but everywhere. We must make it possible. We must ensure that Ukraine wins,” he said.

Mr Zelensky spoke to Europe’s leaders as Russia carried out new drone attacks on Ukraine overnight and killed two people in a shelling of the southern city of Kherson on Thursday morning.

The Ukrainian military said air defences shot down 24 of the 29 drones launched in attacks on the southern regions of Odessa and Mykolaiv, and on the central region of Kirovohrad.

It said Russia continued its strikes on Ukraine’s south, home to Ukrainian Black Sea and river ports, but gave few details of the latest wave of attacks that Kyiv says have focused on port and grain infrastructure.

“The enemy continues its attempts to destroy the port and other infrastructure of the south, (and) is terrorising the central regions as well,” Ukraine’s southern military command said.

Nine of the drones that were destroyed were shot down over the Kirovohrad region, regional governor Andriy Raikovych said.

He said on the Telegram messaging app that an infrastructure facility was hit, and that emergency services were tackling the resulting fire, but gave no further details of what was damaged. He reported no casualties.

The regional governor of Kherson, Mr Oleksandr Prokudin, gave few details of the shelling of Kherson but said a man and a woman were killed, and another man was wounded.

A 64-year-old woman was also wounded in morning shelling of the southern town of Nikopol in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said. He said 10 buildings, power lines and a gas pipeline were damaged.

Russia has frequently carried out air strikes since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive in the south and east that it says is gradually making progress.

Although Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, many have been killed in attacks that have hit residential areas as well as energy, defence, port, grain and other facilities. REUTERS