Russian missile strikes: Ukraine pleads for more weapons 

Ukraine has appealed to leaders of the Group of Seven nations (G7) for more air defence capabilities as the country’s cities face more Russian missile strikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he expects a positive response on Wednesday from Western allies in Brussels to his requests for a rapid increase in military aid.

“I am anticipating from our partners progress on matters of anti-aircraft and anti-missile defences and agreements on new supplies of different weapons and ammunition vital for us,” Zelenskiy said in an evening address on Tuesday.

The G7; which includes the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Britain, Italy and Canada – pledged continued “financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support … for as long as it takes” to Ukraine, it said in a statement.

It also condemned “indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations” as war crimes and said Putin would be held to account for them.

A U.S.-led coalition of some 50 countries known as the Ukraine Defence Contact Group will meet in Brussels on Wednesday on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers meeting.

The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday night that Russian missile strikes had damaged more than 10 cities, including Lviv, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Zaporizhzhia.

Also Read: Russian missile strike kills 23 in Ukraine 

“Over the past 24 hours, the occupiers have again resorted to mass missile strikes – more than 30 cruise missiles, seven air strikes and 25 instances of shelling,” Ukraine’s armed forces said.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov celebrated the arrival of what he said were four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the United States, whose accuracy and longer range have allowed Ukraine to reduce Russia’s artillery advantage.

“HIMARS time,” he wrote on Twitter, was a “good time for Ukrainians and bad time for the occupiers.”

Ukraine also received on Tuesday, the first of four IRIS-T air defence systems Germany promised to supply, a German defence ministry source said.

The United States said it was speeding up the shipment of NASAMS air defences to Ukraine. Washington has already provided more than $16.8 billion worth of security aid to Ukraine during the war.

Moscow has accused the West of escalating and prolonging the conflict by supporting Kyiv.

In an interview on state television, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was open to talks with the United States or with Turkey on ways to end the war, now in its eight month, but had yet to receive any serious proposal to negotiate.

Washington dismissed such offers as “posturing”.

Zainab Sa’id