NATO chief Mark Rutte and Kyiv's top allies have vowed they would not lose sight of Ukraine's conflict with Russia and called on others to urgently boost their support for the country.
With the outbreak of the US-Israeli war against Iran, fears have grown that international support for Kyiv is waning, more than four years since Moscow's full-scale invasion.
American-led talks to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II have stalled since the start of the Middle East war, at a time US support for Ukraine was already weakening under US President Donald Trump.
But Mr Rutte and defence ministers from Kyiv's key allies, including Germany and Britain, insisted alongside their Ukrainian counterpart at a meeting in Berlin that their backing was undiminished.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the "world to think that those who stand with Ukraine have grown weary or distracted," British Defence Secretary John Healey said after the talks.
"The truth is, our support continues steadfast," added Healey, announcing London would supply Ukraine with 120,000 drones, which have taken on a central role in the war.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius added that the gathering in Berlin "demonstrates our unity and our determination".
Other pledges of military aid at the meeting included more missiles from Germany, which has become Ukraine's biggest backer as US support has weakened, and drones from the Netherlands.
'Too few sharing burden'
But Mr Rutte also emphasised that all of Kyiv's allies needed to step up.
It came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky complained that US peace negotiators "have no time for Ukraine" because of the Middle East conflict.
"We cannot lose sight of Ukraine," stressed Mr Rutte, adding that "too few countries share too much of the burden".
"All allies must invest more to achieve the target of $60 billion of security and defence support to Ukraine this year."
Boosting Ukraine's air defences as well as supplies of drones, missiles and long-range artillery ammunition were priorities, he said.
Asked about concerns that supplies of US missiles to Ukraine could be affected by the Iran war, Mr Rutte insisted that Washington understood it needed to continue supporting Kyiv.
"We have to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight," said the NATO chief. "There is a broad agreement on that, on both sides of the Atlantic."
Ties between Trump and NATO have been severely strained in recent times, with the US president repeatedly railing against other members of the alliance for their failure to join in his war against Iran.
Ukrainian Defence Mykhailo Fedorov said that Ukraine had just endured "one of the most difficult" winters in its history, during which Russia targeted the country with hundreds of ballistic missiles and thousands of drones.
"But Ukraine endured," he added, saying greatly strengthened air defences had helped repel many of the attacks.
Zelensky presses allies on air defence in Rome
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Mr Zelensky said today that they would work together to boost defence cooperation, including on drone production, after talks in Rome.
No concrete details were announced however, with Mr Zelensky saying teams from the two countries would work on the details.
"Today we have discussed at length how to strengthen our cooperation in the field of defence," Mr Meloni said.
"Italy in particular is very interested in developing joint production, especially in the area of drones, a sector in which we know very well that Ukraine has in recent years become a leading nation."
Mr Zelensky had yesterday visited Berlin, where he and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a strategic partnership centred on defence, and drones.
The Middle East war has given Kyiv a chance to showcase its drone expertise developed over more than four years of war with Russia, with Mr Zelensky dispatching specialists and visiting countries targeted by attacks from Iran, a Russian ally.
"Ukraine has developed a special format of security agreement, which we call the Drone Deal format," Mr Zelensky said Wednesday.
"Our expertise, military experience, and our defensive capabilities in the fields of drones, missiles, electronic warfare, and data exchange - we are proposing to bring all of this together with the capabilities of our partners, so that we support each other," he explained, through an Italian interpreter.
The day after receiving a drubbing from Mr Trump over Italy's unwillingness to join the Iran war, Meloni repeated the need for the US and Europe to work together on Ukraine.
"A divided West and a fractured Europe would be the only true gift we could give Moscow," she said.
Meloni has been one of Washington's closest allies in Europe, and has pressed Kyiv's case with Mr Trump.
But Mr Trump told Italian daily Corriere della Sera yesterday: "I'm shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong."
Italy has denied authorisation for some US aircraft involved in combat missions to land at Sigonella in Sicily.
Mr Zelensky is pressing European countries to join the PURL programme, launched last year, that allows Ukraine to receive US equipment financed by European countries.
Italy has sent weapons - including the French-Italian SAMP/T air defence system - but has not signed up to PURL.
Russian attacks on Ukraine kill one, injure seven overnight
Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with more that 300 of drones and three ballistic missiles, targeting port infrastructure in the south, killing one and wounding at least seven people, Ukrainian officials said.
Air defence units shot down or neutralised 309 drones, but the missiles and 13 drones hit at nine locations, it said.
"Just over the past 24 hours there were brutal attacks on Dnipro, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, Chernihiv, the Donetsk region, and Zaporizhzhia," Mr Zelensky said in a post on X, adding that cooperation to strengthen Ukraine's air defences was a priority.
"We need air defence missiles every single day - every day the Russians continue their strikes on our cities."
A 74-year-old woman was killed in a kiosk in a combined attack on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia early this morning, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on the Telegram messaging app.
He said the attack also damaged a car park, business premises, and nearby residential buildings, as well as an education facility. He posted photos of a shattered metal structure, a building with broken windows and damaged cars.
Regional prosecutors said the attack involved both drones and missiles.
Ukraine's Defence Ministry said today that it was introducing a new model of combat operations integrating drone warfare with infantry and pointed to successes it said had been achieved in retaking territory from Russian forces in the south of the country.
"A new model of warfare is being introduced, drone-assault units that combine aerial and ground unmanned systems with infantry into a single integrated system," the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.
"This approach has already produced results in the south, where since February a large area of territory has been liberated, precisely thanks to the use of these advanced units."
Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Kyiv's forces had regained control of nearly 50 sq.km of its territory from Russia in March, building on its gains since the start of the year.
