<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/ukraine" rel="" target="" title="Ukrainian"><span>Ukrainian</span></a><span> President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/volodymyr-zelenskyy" rel="" target="" title="Volodymyr Zelenskyy"><span>Volodymyr Zelenskyy</span></a><span> was in London on Friday for talks with two dozen </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/europe" rel="" target="" title="European"><span>European</span></a><span> leaders, who have pledged military help to shield his country from future </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/russia" rel="" target="" title="Russian"><span>Russian</span></a><span> aggression if a ceasefire stops the more than </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/russia-ukraine" rel="" target="" title="three-year war"><span>three-year war</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The meeting hosted by British Prime Minister </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/Keir-Starmer" rel="" target="" title="Keir Starmer"><span>Keir Starmer</span></a><span> is also due to assess ways of helping protect Ukraine's power grid from Russia's almost daily drone and missiles attacks as winter approaches, enhancing Ukrainian air defences, and supplying Kyiv with longer-range missiles that can strike deep inside Russia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The talks aim to step up pressure on Russian President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/vladimir-putin" rel="" target="" title="Vladimir Putin"><span>Vladimir Putin</span></a><span>, adding momentum to measures in recent days that have included a new round of sanctions from the United States and European countries that take aim at Russia's vital oil and gas export earnings.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/louvre-heist-how-a-german-freight-lift-became-an-unexpected-social-media-star/67393797-b144-4634-a13c-9490104f9286"><strong><span>German freight lift becomes unexpected social media star after Louvre heist</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Putin has so far resisted efforts to push him into negotiating a peace settlement with Zelenskyy and has argued that the motives for Russia's all-out invasion of its smaller neighbour are legitimate. Russia has also been adept at finding loopholes in Western sanctions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Starmer greeted Zelenskyy with a hug on the doorstep of 10 Downing St. The two leaders were to hold a lunchtime meeting before being joined by other leaders in the afternoon.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We've got really important business to go through," Starmer said to Zelenskyy.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/russia-ukraine-conflict-volodymyr-zelenskyy-seeks-more-european-help-against-russia-on-london-trip/8d609a36-62e2-4a57-9735-efa6fbef8643" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Putin's unbudging stance has exasperated Western leaders. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Time and again we offer Putin the chance to end his needless invasion, to stop the killing and recall his troops, but he repeatedly rejects those proposals and any chance of peace," Starmer said in written comments ahead of Friday's meeting.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ukraine's Western allies need to resolve some big questions about the future part they will play as Europe's biggest conflict since World War II heads toward its fourth anniversary next February.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The uncertainties include how they can help fund war-devastated Ukraine, what postwar security guarantees they might be able to provide it, and nail down what Washington's commitments to future security arrangements might be.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Building a 'reassurance force'</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Zelenskyy and Starmer are expected to be joined at the Foreign Office in London by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>About 20 other leaders are to join via video link in the meeting of the group dubbed the Coalition of the Willing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Details of the potential future "reassurance force" are scant, and the London meeting seeks to further develop the idea - even though any peace agreement appears at the moment to be only a distant possibility.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The force is likely to consist of air and naval support rather than Western troops deployed in Ukraine, according to officials. UK Defense Secretary John Healey says it would be "a force to help secure the skies, secure the seas, a force to help train Ukrainian forces to defend their nation."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Its headquarters is expected to rotate between Paris and London for 12-month periods.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The war has shown no sign of subsiding, as a front-line war of attrition kills thousands of soldiers on both sides while drone and missile barrages cause damage in rear areas.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Russia says it has captured Ukrainian villages</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Russian Defence Ministry claimed on Friday that over the past week its forces have captured 10 Ukrainian villages. The small conquests are part of Russia's slow but steady slog to envelop the remaining Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk region from both the north and the south and create footholds for pressing further west into the Dnipropetrovsk region.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Defence Ministry also said its forces downed 111 Ukrainian drones over several regions overnight, with debris causing damage to homes and infrastructure.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One drone hit an apartment building in Krasnogorsk on Moscow's northwestern edge, injuring five people, including a child, according to Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that air defenses downed three drones heading to Moscow, which forced flights to be suspended at two Moscow airports.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Three other Russian airports briefly suspended flights because of the drone attacks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities said Russian artillery struck a residential block in the southeastern city of Kherson on Friday, killing two people and injuring 22 others, including a 16-year-old.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Also, Russian planes dropped at least five powerful glide bombs on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, injuring six people and damaging homes, according to city mayor Ihor Terekhov.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And for the first time, Russia fired glide bombs in Ukraine's southern Odesa region on Friday, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, calling it "a new, serious threat" in the area.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Russian war bloggers said the military used a new jet-propelled glide bomb with an extended range of up to 200 kilometres, significantly increasing Russian deep strike capacity. Glide bombs are significantly cheaper than missiles and carry a heavier payload.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ukraine's rail company, Ukrzaliznytsia, announced train delays and route changes in three regions caused by "massive shelling" that damaged infrastructure, which Russian forces have targeted in recent months.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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