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Zelenskiy heads to UK for talks with France, Germany

The leaders of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France and Germany are set to meet again in London. (EPA PHOTO)

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader will visit the United Kingdom on Sunday with the two other leaders, officials in Downing Street said.

It comes after a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeted St Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, on Saturday, underscoring the country's growing ability to hit deep inside Russia.

Russia's defence ministry said ‌on Saturday its anti-aircraft units had intercepted and ‌destroyed 339 Ukrainian drones over a 13-hour ‌period in various Russian regions including Moscow.

The ministry, posting on Telegram, listed 13 regions where the interceptions took place, plus areas ‌over the ‌Black ⁠Sea, between 7am and ​8pm.

Several regions in central Russia were included in the defence ministry list of affected areas, which also extended to Leningrad ⁠and Pskov ‌regions ​in the northwest.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin ​issued a ‌series of announcements on Telegram outlining anti-aircraft ​action against drones. An unofficial count showed that 14 had been downed throughout ​the ​day.

Russia's civil ​aviation authority periodically announced ‌the suspension of flights to different airports. Russian news agencies said four suspension orders had been issued at different times of ​the day for the Black Sea ​city of ⁠Sochi.

In Ukraine, one person was killed and three wounded earlu on Saturday in the Dnipropetrovsk region as Russian forces struck three districts nearly 30 times with drones and artillery, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

The three leaders of the "E3 group" of countries meeting Zelenskiy are some of Ukraine's staunchest allies, with the UK and France leading the so-called "coalition of the willing" initiative to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace process.

with Reuters

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