G7 pledges to meet Ukraine's ‘urgent' air defence needs

Russian missiles, artillery and drones have hammered targets in eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, as leaders of G7 countries pledged to beef up Kyiv’s military capabilities with a focus on air defences.

The G7, a group of powerful economies, promised on Monday to “meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements” after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the virtual G7 meeting for modern tanks, artillery firepower and long-range weapons against Russia’s devastating invasion.

He also urged the G7 to help Kyiv obtain an extra 2 billion cubic metres of natural gas in light of Ukraine’s dire energy shortages as millions languish without power in subzero cold after further Russian air raids on critical infrastructure.

Separately, EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to put another 2 billion euros ($2.1bn) into a fund used to pay for military support for Ukraine, after it was largely depleted during almost 10 months of war. More top-ups may be possible at a later stage.

UK defence minister Ben Wallace said on Monday he would be “open-minded” about supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles to target launch sites for Russian drones that have hit infrastructure if Russia carried on targeting civilian areas.

Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Monday resumed operations suspended after Russia used Iranian-made drones on Saturday to hit two energy facilities. Power is slowly being restored to some 1.5 million people, but the situation remains difficult, national grid operator Ukrenergo said on Monday.