Euro Leaders Mark Ukraine Independence 08/25 06:16

   

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- European leaders joined President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 
in Kyiv on Monday to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's independence 
and boost its long-range missile program as Russia pressed on with its 
4-year-old invasion of the country.

   One of President Vladimir Putin's key goals in starting a war with Russia's 
neighbor in February 2022 was to return Kyiv to Moscow's orbit. Ukrainian 
lawmakers voted on Aug. 24, 1991, to proclaim the country's independence, and a 
nationwide referendum later that year overwhelmingly approved it.

   With no significant changes on the front line for months and no apparent 
progress after more than a year of U.S.-led peace efforts, both countries are 
locked in a spiral of escalating aerial attacks that are killing civilians and 
smashing infrastructure.

   Europe rallies around Ukraine

   U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, on his first overseas trip since taking 
office last month, joined almost a dozen other European leaders, as well as 
other dignitaries in Kyiv on Monday.

   "For Ukraine, independence is not an abstract idea. We defended it against 
all odds," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media. "In 
times like these, nations learn how important it is to have allies by your 
side."

   Burnham co-chaired a meeting of what's been dubbed the Coalition of the 
Willing -- a group of over two dozen countries helping Ukraine resist Russia's 
onslaught.

   Burnham said he is pushing British industry to help a Ukrainian project that 
is working on a low-cost alternative to the U.S.-made Patriot air defense 
systems that are desperately needed but are in short supply. He urged other 
countries to encourage Washington to adopt stiffer sanctions on Russia and 
press Moscow to accept U.S. attempts to secure an unconditional ceasefire.

   Zelenskyy said in a speech at Kyiv's St. Sophia Square that the presence of 
European leaders reflected continental fears about Russia's wider ambitions.

   "We all understand that in this Russian war against us -- against Ukraine -- 
far more is being decided than the future of Ukraine and Eastern Europe," he 
said.

   "No nation in a war like this could rely solely on its own weapons," 
Zelenskyy said. "No nation could withstand attacks of such intensity without 
the world's help."

   Ukraine eyes local production of Anglo-French missile

   The leaders brought pledges of further military and financial support. 
Burnham announced his government has agreed to allow defense company MBDA to 
release classified information relating to British components used in the SCALP 
long-range missile. That paves the way for France and Ukraine to advance plans 
for the weapon's production in Ukraine.

   SCALP is the French version of the U.K.'s Storm Shadow missile, with both 
systems incorporating shared technology.

   "Ukraine has been Europe's protector, not a drain on our security, but the 
front line of keeping Europe safe," Burnham said, adding that Kyiv and its 
partners "must keep up the pressure on Moscow."

   Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin views the plan "extremely 
negatively." He accused the U.K. of "taking part in this war" on Kyiv's side.

   Ukraine has leaned heavily on NATO countries for help fighting Russia's 
bigger army, although relations with the United States have been cooler under 
President Donald Trump.

   Russia, meanwhile, is getting help from North Korea and China.

   Ukraine displays its drones in a parade

   Ukraine's swift development of innovative drone technology has enabled it to 
blunt Moscow's battlefield progress as well as hit targets deep inside Russia, 
as far as 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from their border. The speeches in St. 
Sophia Square were accompanied by a parade of domestically produced weapons.

   Both Russia and Ukraine are trying through long-range strikes to inflict 
economic pain, disrupt military supplies and erode public morale.

   Ukraine's long-range drones have repeatedly hit facilities in Russia's vital 
oil industry, causing fuel shortages, and have also engaged in a campaign 
against Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries.

   But foreign suppliers also have to take into account their own needs, weapon 
production levels and the depth of stockpiles.

   As the air war has intensified, Ukraine's stocks of Patriot interceptors to 
counter Russia's ballistic missiles have dwindled. Kyiv urgently needs more 
interceptors before winter, when Russia routinely bombards its power grid, but 
the demands of the Iran war and slow output of the sophisticated interceptors 
have left Ukraine short and vulnerable.

   Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he believed that striking Russian 
targets like Wildberries was a "sensible military strategy" that would hasten 
peace negotiations.

   Ukrainian strikes kill 3 teenagers

   Three teenagers were killed and six children were wounded in the southern 
Russian city of Krasnodar, Russia's children's rights ombudswoman Maria 
Lvova-Belova said, as Ukraine attacked several warehouses of Ozon, another 
online retailer, for the third straight day, according to officials and the 
company.

   Ozon said a large fire raged at its logistics facility in the suburbs of 
Krasnodar following the overnight attack.

   A drone also hit the grounds of an Ozon logistics center in the southern 
Russian region of Adygeya, said regional Gov. Murat Kumpilov, although the 
company said its warehouse wasn't damaged.

   In all, four Ozon premises appeared to have been targeted.

   Meanwhile, Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck the Russian 
state-owned Kamenetsky Combine defense company in the Rostov region overnight, 
starting a fire. The plant produces rocket and missile fuel, it said.

   Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted and 
destroyed 351 Ukrainian drones over eight Russian regions, the Crimean 
Peninsula and the Azov and Black seas. Moscow illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

   The ministry also said its forces overnight struck Ukrainian ports and 
vessels delivering military cargo.

   Russia has also turned its sights on Ukrainian shopping malls, supermarkets 
and gas stations in recent months. Russian drones struck a shopping center in 
central Ukraine in a daytime attack Friday, killing 16 people and wounding 130, 
Ukrainian officials said.

   Ukraine's southern Odesa region came under a large-scale Russian missile and 
drone attack Monday, with food storage facilities and energy infrastructure 
among the targets, regional authorities reported.

   Eighteen people, including two children, were injured in a Russian drone 
strike on Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, according to Ukraine's Emergency 
Service.

   It was not possible to independently verify each side's reports.