Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky have held fresh talks on long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia to counter Vladimir Putin’s war.
The Ukrainian leader told of the new discussions as the US president was due to head to Berlin for talks on Friday with Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Kyiv has been pleading with America for permission to use long-range missiles supplied by the West, including British Storm Shadows, to hit air bases deep inside Russia from where aircraft are flying missions to target towns and cities in Ukraine with “glide bombs”.
In his overnight address, Mr Zelensky said: “Last night, I spoke with President Biden. Many issues were covered. I am grateful for the new support package. 425 million dollars (£327 million) is the amount. This is air defence – our special priority.
“We also talked about our upcoming packages. President Biden gave me his word that the packages will be implemented in the near future. We spoke about long-range weapons.”
They also discussed a meeting of Ukraine’s allies set to take place at the US airbase at Ramstein in Germany in coming weeks.
Mr Zelensky is explaining his “Victory Plan” as he seeks to maintain backing from the West against Putin’s war, including Kyiv’s strategic objectives which if successful he believes could end the conflict.
“The Victory Plan is also about diplomacy, about peace through strength, which should lead us to a really productive Peace Summit,” he added.
However, Putin has showed no signs yet that he is ready to agree a peace deal with Kyiv.
Russian troops have been gradually seizing more territory in eastern Ukraine but also suffering heavy casualties as they advance.
Ukraine’s military has also been hit with high casualties, with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of civilians killed in Putin’s war launched in February 2022.
Mr Biden, Sir Keir, French president Mr Macron and Mr Scholz will hold talks in Berlin on Friday, the German government confirmed on Thursday.
The meeting of the four leaders, which will discuss the Ukraine and Middle East wars, was due to have taken place last week.
But the US president pulled out to stay at home to deal with the Hurricane Milton crisis.
Britain has been at the forefront of arming Ukraine but Washington is split over consent to fire long-range missiles deep into Russia, amid fears it could escalate the war.
On the battlefield, Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure in the southern region of Mykolaiv as they launched 56 drones and one missile in an overnight assault on Ukraine.
Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim said the attack had cut power in some areas and there were no casualties.
The Ukrainian air force also reported five hits to infrastructure facilities in regions near the front line.
It said 22 drones were shot down and that it lost track of 27 drones that likely fell into Ukrainian territory following active electronic warfare measures. Two more drones went to Belarus.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone debris fell on the land of a kindergarten in the capital.
Regional authorities in the northeastern Sumy region said a drone attack caused a fire at an administrative building and damaged two cars.
Russian forces have pummelled critical infrastructure in Ukrainian cities ahead of the winter months, prompting Kyiv leadership to intensify pleas for additional air defence from its allies.
