India, April 16 -- Ukraine's top diplomatic priority is securing its allies' help to buy and build more air defence systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday between meetings with European leaders, as Russia kept up its deadly attacks on civilians and public infrastructure.

Russian strikes hit more than a half-dozen areas of Ukraine behind the front line from Tuesday to Wednesday, killing an 8-year-old boy in the central Cherkasy region and a woman who was in a kiosk near a bus stop that was hit in southern Zaporizhzhia, according to Zelenskyy and local officials.

"Every day we need air defence missiles - every day Russia continues its strikes," Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. With no plans announc...