Ukraine's Zelenskyy pursues more arms deals with allies to help check Russia's invasion

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s top diplomatic priority is securing its allies’ help to buy and build more air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday between meetings with European leaders, as Russia kept up its deadly attacks on civilians and public infrastructure.

Russian strikes hit more than a half-dozen areas of Ukraine behind the front line from Tuesday to Wednesday, killing an 8-year-old boy in the central Cherkasy region and a woman who was in a kiosk near a bus stop that was hit in southern Zaporizhzhia, according to Zelenskyy and local officials.

“Every day we need air defense missiles — every day Russia continues its strikes,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

With no plans announced for further U.S.-mediated talks with Russia, Zelenskyy was visiting three European capitals in 48 hours, securing promises of further military and financial support from Germany and Norway ahead of his trip to Italy on Wednesday.

After more than four years of fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine possesses battle-tested drone interceptor expertise and has developed groundbreaking air defense technology, but it lacks the money to scale up production to levels that would press its advantage.

Zelenskyy said he is asking European countries to keep adding money to a fund that allows the purchase from the United States of American-made weapons for Ukraine, especially the Patriot air defense system that can stop the Russian cruise and ballistic missiles hitting civilian areas.

He is also championing joint weapons production agreements, including for drones and missiles, while pushing for the European Union to move quickly on providing a promised 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) loan.

Defense leaders from the 50-plus partner nations who regularly gather to coordinate weapons aid for Kyiv were to hold an online meeting Wednesday, chaired by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and British Defense Secretary John Healey. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due to attend.

Ahead of the meeting, Britain announced it will send 120,000 drones to Ukraine this year, its biggest delivery of the weapons so far. The package includes long-range strike drones, intelligence and reconnaissance drones, logistics drones and maritime capabilities. Officials didn’t say how soon they will be sent.

Russia launched 324 drones and three ballistic missiles and at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said, in its biggest barrage in almost two weeks. Air defenses intercepted 309 of the drones.

Russia also fired a powerful FAB-1500 glide bomb, weighing 1.5 metric tons, at the central part of Sloviansk before dawn Wednesday, the Sloviansk City Military Administration head Vadym Liakh said.

The blast destroyed a children’s sports facility that was a city landmark, he said.

In a nighttime strike on the southeastern city of Dnipro, Russian forces struck two universities overnight, damaging academic buildings, dormitories and nearby homes, Mayor Borys Filatov said.

The blast wave shattered more than 1,000 windows in surrounding buildings, he said, adding that there were no military targets in the area.

Meanwhile, Ukraine proceeded with its long-range drone attacks on Russia, with the Russian Defense Ministry reporting Wednesday that its air defenses intercepted 85 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions, the annexed Crimean peninsula and the waters of the Black and the Azov seas.

Ukrainian drones targeted an industrial facility in Sterlitamak, a Russian city about 1,300 kilometers (roughly 800 miles) east of the border with Ukraine, local authorities said.

Radiy Habirov, governor of the Bashkortostan region where Sterlitamak is located, said in an online statement Wednesday that several drones were shot down over Sterlitamak’s “industrial zone,” and debris fell on one of the facilities there, sparking a fire. He didn’t provide further details.

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine