Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks in Kyiv focused on further British military support for Ukraine with U.K.'s new foreign secretary, David Cameron, Zelenskiy's office said in a message posted on social media on November 16.
Cameron, a former British prime minister who was appointed foreign secretary in a surprise move on November 13, visited Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine as the war in Gaza threatens to draw global attention away from Russia's continued invasion of its neighbor.
Zelenskiy's announcement, which came amid a fresh wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, did not say when the visit, Cameron's first trip abroad as foreign secretary, took place.
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"We had a good meeting focused on weapons for the frontline, strengthening air defense, and protecting our people and critical infrastructure," Zelenskiy was quoted as saying on X, formerly know as Twitter.
"The world is not so focused on the battlefield situation in Ukraine, and this dividing of the focus really does not help," he said in a video accompanying his X message.
In the video, Cameron said that his visit was meant to reassure Kyiv of Britain's "moral support, diplomatic support, but above all, the military support that you need not just this year and next year, but however long it takes" for Ukraine in its efforts to stave off Russia's aggression.
On November 15, Zelenskiy said Ukraine cannot afford a stalemate in the war against Russia.
"If we want to end the war, we must end it," he said during an interview with African journalists. "End with respect so that the whole world knows that whoever came, captured, and killed, is responsible."
According to Zelenskiy, if the war becomes a stalemate, the next generations of Ukrainians will have to fight because Russia "will come again if it is not put in its place."
SEE ALSO: With Talk Of A Stalemate And Potential Elections, Politics Seeps Back Into UkraineUkraine's air defense said in a statement on November 16 that it had shot down 16 out of 18 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia overnight.
The statement said that air-raid alerts had been declared in many Ukrainian regions, without specifying the number. In the previous days, Ukraine had twice declared nationwide air-raid alerts.
In Ukraine's central region of Khmelnitskiy, the region's deputy governor, Serhiy Tyurin, reported that Ukrainian air defense had been asked to provide protection against possible Russian strikes around the city of Starokostyantyniv, where a military airfield is located.
Witnesses described hearing explosions, but there was no immediate information about potential victims or damage.
Rescuers working at the site of a Russian missile strike in Selydove in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk have found the body of a third victim under the rubble, Ukraine's Emergency Service said on November 16.
Regional authorities said Russian troops used an S-300 antiaircraft system to launch four missiles at the city early on November 15, striking a four-story apartment building.
Two bodies were found on November 15, including that of an 85-year-old woman. Several other people were wounded in the strike that partially destroyed the building.
In Russia, a military unit in the Volgograd region was targeted by a drone strike that burned down an ammunition depot, the Astra channel reported on Telegram, posting a video purportedly showing the fire.
In Moscow, the Defense Ministry said its air defenses had shot down five Ukrainian drones early on November 16.
Three drones were downed off the coast of Moscow-occupied Crimea and two unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed over the western region of Bryansk, the Ministry said.
"There were no casualties or damage. Emergency services are working on the spot," Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said on his Telegram channel.
Ukraine has not commented on the report, which could not be independently verified.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces fought 65 close-quarter battles along the front line over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military's General Staff said in its daily report.
Heavy fighting was under way in the Kupyansk area of the Kharkiv region and around Avdiyivka, in the Donetsk region, which Russian forces have been unsuccessfully attempting to encircle for months, the military said.
Ukrainian forces continue to conduct an offensive operation in the Melitopol and Kherson directions in southern Ukraine, the military added, without offering details.