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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aims to press NATO for air defence systems at Turkish forum

This comes after the country's capital city was targeted by heavy Russian strikes multiple times over the past week.
Ben Lyons Senior Editor 7 July 2026

Over the past week, Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv has been the subject to several major strikes by Russian forces, with over 50 people killed as part of the aggression. This has occurred through air strikes targeting urban environments, with the damage and casualties reduced by the existing air defence systems in place that managed to stop most of the drones and a large proportion of the missiles, but not all of them...

Now Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is asking NATO for improved and better air defence systems to deal with the increased Russian strike threat, with the Ukrainian leader taking to the NATO forum happening in Ankara, Turkey, to implore better aid from its members.

As part of the forum, according to BBC News, Zelenskyy is also expected to meet with US President Donald Trump in a bid to change the US leader's stance on the war and how Russian leader Vladimir Putin should be pushed towards reaching a "dignified" peace agreement with Ukraine.

The Ankara forum begins today, July 7, but it will also run through July 8 too, so expect updates in the days ahead.

Senior Editor Ben was a Senior Editor at Gamereactor UK. When he wasn’t writing, editing or filming for Gamereactor, he could usually be found playing an FPS or getting lost in a sprawling RPG.
Full profile Gamereactor author since October 2020 · 18,577 published articles
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