Live blog: Zelenskyy calls for same 'unity' from allies as for Israel

Monday, April 15, 2024

1720 GMT — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged allies to show the same "unity" toward Ukraine as Israel, which said it repelled an Iranian attack over the weekend with Western support.

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy thanked allies who had responded to Ukraine's call for more air defences but said "the intensity of Russian attacks requires greater unity."

"By defending Israel, the free world has demonstrated that such unity is not only possible, but also one hundred percent effective," he said.

"The same is possible in defending Ukraine, which, like Israel, is not a NATO member, from terror," he continued, calling for "political will" from Ukraine's allies.

More updates👇

1711 GMT — Ukraine, Norway strike security accord: minister

Norway has said it struck a security accord with Ukraine as it fights off attacks by their mutual neighbour Russia.

"Norway will be providing long-term military, political, financial, and humanitarian support to Ukraine," Norway Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said after meeting Zelenskyy in Kiev.

"The agreement demonstrates our clear political commitment to continue to stand by Ukraine, as we have done since Russia's brutal, full-scale attack over two years ago," he added in a statement.

1340 GMT — Ukraine sharply boosts delivery of drones to armed forces so far this year: commander

Ukraine has delivered three times more drones to its armed forces so far this year than in the whole of 2023, a top commander said.

"This process continues and will only grow," said Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, the commander of Ukraine's drone forces.

1324 GMT — Russian attacks kills six in east Ukraine

Russian attacks have killed six people in east Ukraine late Sunday and Monday, authorities said, as Moscow seeks to increase pressure behind Ukrainian frontlines.

Ukraine has urged its allies to urgently deliver air defences as it grapples with strikes on civilian areas, including energy infrastructure.

"The city was shelled yesterday evening with multiple rocket launchers. It has now been established that four men aged 36 to 86 died as a result of this shelling," Donetsk region governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Meanwhile, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, a Russian aerial bomb killed two people in the village of Lukyantsi, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.

1120 GMT — Ukraine calls for 'bold' air defence support from allies

Ukraine has appealed again to allies for "extraordinary and bold steps" to supply air defences to help defend against waves of Russian air strikes that have targeted the energy system in recent weeks.

Russian missile and drone attacks have pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure since mid-March, prompting Kiev to issue increasingly desperate calls for air defence help.

"We urgently require additional Patriot and other modern air defence systems, weapons and ammunition," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a Black Sea security conference via video link.

0954 GMT — Russia man sentenced to 14 years in prison for collaborating with Ukraine

A Russian military court has handed down a 14-year sentence to a man it found guilty of cooperating with a foreign state and "justifying terrorism," Russian media reported.

Investigators initially accused Vladlen Menshikov, 29, of attempting to sabotage railway lines carrying military equipment near his hometown of Rezh, a small village near the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, the Vecherniye Vedomosti newspaper said.

He was later charged with the two other counts and the attempted sabotage charge was dropped, the newspaper said, citing documents from the Yekaterinburg military court.

For our live updates from Sunday, April 14, click here.