Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has increased pressure on the United States to let Kyiv strike deeper into Russian territory after his representatives met senior US officials in Washington today.
The US has provided Ukraine with more than $50 billion worth of military aid since 2022, but has limited the use of its weapons to Ukrainian soil and defensive cross border operations.
"Clearing the Ukrainian sky of Russian guided aerial bombs is a strong step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
Appealing to the US, Britain, France and Germany, he said, "We need the capabilities to truly and fully protect Ukraine and Ukrainians.
"We need both the permissions for long-range capabilities and your long-range shells and missiles."
Without providing specifics, he said his representatives had "provided all the necessary details" to Ukraine's partners.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, in Washington with a delegation to meet US officials and experts, said in an interview broadcast by CNN that Kyiv was showing Russian airfields used to hit Ukrainian cities were within range of deep strikes.
"We have explained what kind of capabilities we need to protect the citizens against the Russian terror that Russians are causing us, so I hope we were heard," Mr Umerov said in the interview last night.
Mr Zelensky is expected to deliver a similar plea in person next month, when he will present a plan for victory to President Joe Biden near the end of his time in the Oval Office, and attend United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York.
Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who headed Kyiv's delegation, said in a post on X that she had discussed the steps needed to restore Ukraine's energy system, including a "significant contribution" being made by an $800 million energy sector financing package that was announced in June.
Russian air strikes have affected more than half of Ukraine's power infrastructure, she said.
The president's chief of staff Andriy Yermak joined Mr Umerovin briefing US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about the situation on the battlefield in the first meeting of their visit yesterday, the presidential office said in a statement.
Speaking at the end of a week when Russia hit Ukraine with more than 400 missiles and drones, Mr Yermak said it was important for Ukraine to receive weapons from existing defence packages as soon as possible, the office said.
Meanwhile, a Russian guided bomb attack on Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv hit a residential building and a playground, killing seven people and injuring at least 77 more, local authorities said.
A Russian governor in the city of Belgorod said a Ukrainian attack killed five people and injured 46 others.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said a 14-year-old girl was among the dead.
Ihor Terekhov, the city's mayor, had earlier said on Telegram that one child was killed in the attack on the playground.
The 12-storey apartment block caught fire as a result of the strike, the mayor said.
The death toll from the attack climbed to seven when a woman's body was recovered from the rubble, he added in a later statement.
About 20 of the injured were in severe condition, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
An end of the block was engulfed in black smoke, with many of the upper floors in flames.
Several cars parked outside were gutted by fire.
Emergency services and rescue volunteers rushed to carry survivors out of the building.
Residents of all ages sat stunned on benches and walls outside as medics attended to their injuries.
Kharkiv has been the focus of heavy Russian bombing throughout the war, although there had been a drop in intensity in recent weeks, possibly related to a shock incursion launched by Ukrainian forces into Russia's Kursk region.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region is legitimate and covered by Kyiv's right to self-defence.
Ukrainian authorities said that yesterday's attack involved five aerial guided bombs launched from planes in Russia's Belgorod region, also known as "glide bombs", which are fitted with a navigation system taking them to their targets.
The weapons are hard to intercept and they have become a powerful tool in the war in eastern Ukraine in recent months that can cause huge devastation.
In the wake of the Kharkiv strike, Mr Zelensky renewed a call on Western allies to allow Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to attack Russian military air bases.
"A strike ... would not have happened if our defence forces had the ability to destroy Russian military aircraft where they are based," Mr Zelensky said on Telegram.
"There is no rational reason to restrict Ukraine's defences," he added.
Kyiv says that the most effective way to counter such strikes is to target Russian planes, not the bombs themselves.
Meanwhile five people were killed and 46 injured in a Ukrainian attack on the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod, the local governor said.
Vyacheslav Gladkov said that 37 of the injured, including seven children, were taken to hospital after yesterday's attack.
Video from a car dashboard, posted on social media and purporting to demonstrate the attack, showed another car being blown up while moving on the road.
Seconds later an explosion is seen on the other side of the road.
Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.
Russia's Investigation Committee said on its Telegram channel that it had initiated a criminal case into the Belgorod attack.
Authorities also reported that a woman was injured during Ukrainian shelling of the border town of Shebekino in the Belgorod region.
Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months.
The city has been the focal point of the attacks.
Ukraine and Russia say they do not deliberately target civilians.
Thousands have been killed and wounded during the full-scale invasion Moscow launched in Ukraine in 2022.
Moscow has called the invasion a "special military operation".
