EU's Von der Leyen Pledges Stronger Air Defences for Ukraine During Kyiv Visit

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled to Kyiv on Wednesday to mark Ukraine's Statehood Day, pledging continued military and financial backing for the country as it enters the fourth year of resisting Russia's full-scale invasion.

The visit, her eleventh to the Ukrainian capital since the war began, came as Western officials said Ukraine's drone and missile strikes were hitting targets deep inside Russian territory with growing accuracy, disrupting supply lines and causing fuel shortages among the civilian population.

Von der Leyen said she would announce new steps to integrate European and Ukrainian defence industries and provide additional support to shore up Ukrainian air defences ahead of next winter, when Russia typically steps up strikes on the country's energy infrastructure.

"Ukraine has built a strong military momentum. The tide is turning," von der Leyen wrote on social media ahead of her arrival.

AP reported that Statehood Day, a public holiday marking Ukraine's self-determination, has taken on added significance since Russia occupied Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The war has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians, displaced millions and reduced large parts of Ukrainian cities to rubble. No peace settlement is in sight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recently secured pledges of further backing from the Group of Seven industrialised nations and the so-called Coalition of the Willing countries.

Senior officials from southeastern European countries were also in Kyiv on Wednesday for a regional summit focused on Black Sea security. Among those attending was Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, whose government has declined to join Western sanctions on Moscow despite officially supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity. Serbia relies almost entirely on Russia for its energy supplies.

Ukrainian officials said at least eight civilians were killed and eleven wounded in Russian aerial attacks on Wednesday, as per AP. Three people died and seven were wounded when Russian forces dropped glide bombs on infrastructure in the northern Sumy region, according to regional military administration head Oleh Hryhorov. A further three were killed in a strike on Odesa, while drone attacks in the Chernihiv region killed two more people and seriously wounded an eighteen-year-old. Russia's defence ministry said its air defences overnight intercepted 93 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions and over Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.