Latest news with #coalitionOfMurderers
ABC News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Zelenskyy meets King, British PM as further Russian strikes kill 10 in Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described Russia, Iran and North Korea as a "coalition of murderers" during a visit to the UK, in which he met with the British Prime Minister to discuss defence co-operation. Mr Zelenskyy was in London after a series of deadly strikes against Kyiv and as Keir Starmer prepared to meet with Donald Trump and other world leaders at a crucial NATO summit in the Netherlands on Tuesday. Mr Zelenskyy also met with King Charles III and senior members of the British government during the visit on Monday. The UK has been one of Ukraine's closest supporters since Russia's invasion began in February 2022, and more recently has led a push to create a "coalition of the willing" of countries willing to defend Ukraine's post-war sovereignty. Before landing in the UK, the Ukrainian president said he hoped to negotiate with the British government "new and powerful steps to increase pressure on Russia for this war and to put an end to the strikes". Waves of Russian drones and missiles in and around Kyiv overnight killed 10 people including one child, Ukrainian officials said on Monday. Mr Zelenskyy posted on social media prior during his UK visit that the latest onslaught was a warning to other countries neighbouring states like Russia, Iran and North Korea. "Everyone in countries neighbouring Russia, Iran, and North Korea should be thinking carefully about whether they could protect lives if this coalition of murderers persists and continues spreading their terror," he posted on X. Mr Zelenskyy began his visit by shaking hands with the King at Windsor Castle, the third such time they've met since the start of this year. The palace said Mr Zelenskyy "visited The King this afternoon and remained to luncheon". He later met with senior members of the British parliament, including the lower house speaker Lindsay Hoyle. The Ukrainian leader also visited Downing Street for a bilateral meeting with Mr Starmer. After the meeting, Mr Starmer announced an industrial military co-production agreement with Ukraine. "I'm really proud that ... we're able to announce an industrial military co-production agreement - the first of its kind so far as Ukraine and the UK are concerned - which will be a massive step forward now in the contribution that we can continue to make," he said. Mr Zelenskyy's visit to the UK came as Ukrainian cities continued to come under direct Russian attack. Russia has been launching near-daily drone and missile attacks against Ukraine in recent months, but their intensity has increased in recent weeks as talks to end the war yielded few results. US President Donald Trump has been attempting to broker a peace between the two sides, but negotiations has so far yielded little progress, though prisoner exchanges have been agreed. Strikes in Kyiv overnight on Monday lit up the night sky with fires in residential areas and damaged the entrance to a metro station bomb shelter. At least 34 people including four children were wounded in the attacks on Kyiv, the emergencies service said. From midnight until almost dawn, the city shook with explosions and rattling machine gun fire from anti-aircraft units aiming at the drones. Ukraine's air force said it had downed 339 of 352 drones and 15 of 16 missiles launched by Russia in the attack on four Ukrainian regions. Rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble of an apartment block in Kyiv's busy Shevchenkivskyi district, less than a kilometre from the US embassy. At least nine people died in the district, the interior ministry said. Valeriy Mankuta, 33, described clambering from his window to the third floor below to escape after his building was hit by what authorities said was a missile. Reuters photos showed several explosions above apartment buildings in the area. "There were bricks on me, there was something in my mouth. It was total hell. I woke up in the rubble," Mr Mankuta said. ABC/Reuters
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Zelenskyy calls Russia, Iran and North Korea a ‘coalition of murderers'
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described Russia, Iran and North Korea as a 'coalition of murderers' during a visit to London in which he held talks with Keir Starmer on defence cooperation and how to put further pressure on Moscow. Ukraine's president arrived in the UK on Monday, hours after the Kremlin launched another big air raid on Kyiv. It involved 352 drones – half of them were Iranian-designed Shaheds - and North Korean ballistic missiles in what Zelenskyy called 'a completely cynical strike'. At least 10 people were killed and five civilian apartment blocks badly damaged. 'A large number of drones and missiles were shot down by our air defenders — but not all,' Zelenskyy posted on social media. 'Everyone in countries neighbouring Russia, Iran, and North Korea should be thinking carefully about whether they could protect lives if this coalition of murderers persists and continues spreading their terror.' Zelenskyy has supported Donald Trump's missile strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and has accused Tehran of complicity in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year. Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons arsenal in the 1990s in exchange for US, British and Russian security guarantees. These failed, however, to prevent Vladimir Putin's 2022 attack. Zelenskyy's latest trip to the UK was to discuss how to compel Russia to stop its war, Ukrainian officials said. His previous visit in March followed a disastrous meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump accused him of 'gambling with world war three' and the US vice-president, JD Vance, berated him for supposed ingratitude. Monday's discussions encompassed sanctions and the Trump administration, which has so far refused to punish Russia and has practically ended US weapons deliveries to Kyiv. Ukraine has been attempting to keep Washington onside diplomatically, despite its apparent pivot to Moscow. 'We will be negotiating new and powerful steps to increase pressure on Russia for this war and to put an end to the strikes,' Zelenskyy said of his London trip. As well as talks with Starmer, he met King Charles at Windsor castle and visited Ukrainian soldiers receiving military training in the UK. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Zelenskyy is likely to travel to this week's two-day Nato summit in The Hague and is scheduled to meet the alliance's secretary general, Mark Rutte. It is unclear if he will have a face-to-face meeting with Trump, who is expected to arrive on Tuesday and push for greater defence spending from Nato member states. Since Trump's return to the White House in January, Russia has dramatically stepped up its aerial attacks on Ukraine. It has refused Zelenskyy's offer of a 30-day ceasefire and continues to target civilians. Monday's strikes hit a residential area, hospitals and sports infrastructure. The most severe damage was in Shevchenkivskyi district, where a section of a five-storey apartment building collapsed. Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said six people had been killed in the district. Ten others, including a pregnant woman, were rescued from a nearby high-rise that also sustained heavy damage. Oleksii Pozychaniuk, 29, who lives in the building next to the one struck, said he heard the whistle of a rocket approaching and 'froze in terror' before feeling the impact. 'Windows blew out, glass was flying everywhere,' he told the Associated Press. 'We barely made it downstairs with my child. Everything here was on fire.'
