At least 14 people have died today in the Kyiv region, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the eve of the NATO summit in Ankara.
Zelensky is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump during the summit, in the hope of giving new momentum to peace efforts that have stalled more than four years after the outbreak of war following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Overnight Russian strikes killed 11 people and wounded 64 in Kyiv, “including two children,” while 3 people were killed and 16 wounded in the Kyiv region, the Ukrainian president specified.
Authorities in the Ukrainian capital also said that around thirty residential buildings had sustained damage.
The Ukrainian president noted that air defense forces had been effective in intercepting unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and Russian cruise missiles, “but unfortunately not ballistic missiles (which fly at much higher altitudes and much greater speeds).”
Zelensky once again called on Kyiv’s allies to provide it with the necessary interceptor missiles. “It is crucial that the world, first and foremost the US and our European partners, come out of the NATO summit in Ankara with strong decisions in favor of our air defense,” the Ukrainian president said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also said that these new Russian bombardments show that Ukraine has an “urgent need” for air defense, adding that the issue would be discussed in Ankara.
Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to meet with Donald Trump in the Turkish capital on the sidelines of the NATO summit, where heads of state and delegations from 32 countries are expected to arrive starting tomorrow, Tuesday.
“The president will obviously meet with him to discuss how we can bring the war to an end,” a senior American official said. Trump is then expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the same source.
On the occasion of the NATO summit, the alliance’s European member states and Canada are expected to commit to providing Ukraine with military aid worth €70 billion in 2026, as well as in 2027, diplomatic sources have also revealed.
Translated by Ioanna Georgakopoulou
