Ukraine war: Holes exposed in Ukraine air defence, as Lavrov slams NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged leaders to collectively rebuild following the "predatory" act of Russia's full-scale invasion. He made the comments while addressing the Ukraine conference in London, via video, on Wednesday. 

"We are united in defending freedom... in countries that will live freely," Zelenskyy said in a virtual address to a panel of dignitaries and diplomats. 

Zelenskyy thanked the UK and supporting world leaders for supporting the war-torn country and urged for a growth strategy "driven by values". 

"The rules that we are preparing must be preceded by confidence that what we build will not fall," he added. 

UK's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Russia's invasion has seen Ukraine's GDP go down by 29%. 

A recovery conference is underway in London to unlock €2.75 billion worth of loans from the World Bank to help in Ukrainian re-building.

The conference started on Wednesday and will run for two days. 

Ukraine downs Russian missiles, but some strike the targets

Ukrainian authorities said the country's air defences thwarted 32 of 35 Shahed exploding drones Russia launched early Tuesday. 

The bombardment exposed gaps in the country’s air protection after almost 16 months of war.

Russian forces mostly targeted the region around the Ukrainian capital in a nighttime attack lasting around three hours, officials said, with Ukrainian air defences shooting down about a dozen of them.

The attack was part of a wider bombardment of Ukraine that extended as far as the Lviv region in the west of the country near Poland.

The Iranian-made drones made it all the way to Lviv because of the inability of Ukraine's air defence assets to cover such a broad area, air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said.

Russia also struck the