Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged western leaders to help rebuild his war-torn country, as he hailed the reconstruction project as a crucial part of its fight for freedom. The Ukrainian president addressed the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London via video-link on Wednesday, as Rishi Sunak and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, reiterated their support for the country.
Sunak outlined how Ukraine must be supported to fast-track recovery and support this “help Ukraine unleash its potential”. “It’s clear Russia must pay for the destruction that they’ve inflicted. So we’re working with allies to explore lawful routes to use Russian assets,” the prime minister said at the conference.
Two drones have been intercepted on their approach to military warehouses in the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the area, has said, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian forces are “very actively destroying the enemy, physically clearing Ukraine,” President Zelenskiy said in his latest evening address.
Russia has threatened strikes on Kyiv’s “decision-making centres” if Ukraine uses western-supplied missiles against the occupied peninsula of Crimea. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, said the potential use of US-supplied Himars and UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Crimea would mark the west’s “full involvement in the conflict and would entail immediate strikes upon decision-making centres in Ukrainian territory”.
Russia overnight struck military and infrastructure targets in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and across other parts of the country, including western areas far from the frontlines, Ukrainian officials said. Several commercial and administrative buildings and some private houses were damaged in drone attacks on the Kyiv area while a “critically important facility” was struck in Lviv. There was no mention of any casualties.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief has accused Russia of “mining” the cooling pond used to keep the reactors cool at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine’s south. “Most terrifying is that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was additionally mined during that time … namely the cooling pond was mined,” Kyrylo Budanov, head of the GUR agency, said on television, without providing evidence.
