Ihor Zhovkva said his country needs armoured vehicles and tanks if it is to “liberate” areas captured by Moscow.

He added that the “primary object” of Zelenskyy’s visits to European neighbours including the UK, Germany and Italy in recent days was to request “additional military packages”.

Zhovkva told Sky News: “Unfortunately, the level of equipment we have is not yet enough to start the counteroffensive.

“To start a counteroffensive, with the result being the liberation of Ukrainian territories, you need enough artillery systems and ammunition. You need armoured vehicles and tanks.

“We want this counteroffensive to be as successful as possible.

A bill banning Russian uranium imports to the US gained momentum on Tuesday by passing a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the US banned imports of its oil and imposed a price cap with other Western countries on sea-borne exports of its crude and oil products, but it has not banned imports of its uranium.

“The war in Ukraine has made it abundantly clear we cannot be at the whims of Russia for our fuel supply,” said representative Jeff Duncan, the chair of the committee.

“It should be a bipartisan, national security objective to wean the United States industry off Russian uranium imports.”

A similar bill has been referred to the energy committee in the U.S. Senate. Before becoming law, the legislation would have to pass both chambers of Congress and be signed by president Joe Biden, Reuters reports.

“Success would be liberating all the captured areas of Ukraine.”

The president of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, will step up calls for a special tribunal to try Russia for the crime of aggression.

Speaking ahead of a summit of European leaders in Reykjavik on Tuesday, Von der Leyen said “accountability of Russia for the crime of aggression” would be a big topic. Earlier this week, she promised to “strongly support the creation of a dedicated tribunal to bring Russia’s crime of aggression to trial”.

Leaders from across the continent are meeting in the Icelandic capital for a Council of Europe summit, only the fourth in the body’s 74-year history. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, Rishi Sunak and Von der Leyen are to give speeches later on Tuesday.

Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe last March after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Moscow had announced its intention to withdraw from the continent’s leading human rights body the day before its expulsion, after the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly called for its withdrawal.

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said he will discuss the longer-term security arrangements needed to support Ukraine when he meets other leaders at the Council of Europe Summit in Iceland.

“I’ll be talking to other countries, making sure that we continue to support Ukraine, give them the support that they need to defend themselves against Russian aggression, and also start thinking about the longer term security arrangements that we will want to put in place to support Ukraine in the long term,” he told reporters in Reykjavik.

Six African leaders plan to travel to Russia and Ukraine “as soon as is possible” to help find a resolution to the war, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy have “agreed to receive the mission and the African heads of state, in both Moscow and Kyiv,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa said he had held “separate telephone calls” with Putin and Zelensky over the weekend, where he presented an initiative drawn up by Zambia, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa.

“I agreed with both President Putin and President Zelensky to commence with preparations for engagements with the African heads of state,” Ramaphosa said.

“We’re hoping we will have intensive discussions,” he said, speaking at a press conference in Cape Town during a state visit by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Ramaphosa did not give a specific timeline for the visit or other details, saying only that the conflict had been “devastating” and Africa “is also suffering a great deal” from it.

African countries have been badly hit by rising prices of grain and by the impact to world trade.

Luke Harding has an updated dispatch from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, the night after a barrage of missile attacks by Russia.

Ukraine has said it has neutralised the Kremlin’s most potent hypersonic weapon, shooting down six out of six Kinzhal missiles launched at Kyiv during a sweeping and “exceptionally intense” night-time attack.

Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s air command, said Moscow had also bombarded the capital with nine Kalibr missiles and three ballistic rockets, as well as six attack drones and three reconnaissance drones. All were shot down, he said, thwarting what he called “air terrorism”.

The attack on Kyiv was one of the biggest since last year’s invasion and followed Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s three-day trip to Europe. During meetings in London, Berlin, Paris and Rome, Ukraine’s president secured promises of more military assistance, including long-range attack drones from the UK.

Russia’s furious response came at 2.30am local time. Emergency sirens woke residents. Soon afterwards there were loud booms as Ukrainian air defences engaged incoming missiles. Tracer fire illuminated the sky and car alarms went off. There were growling explosions. A further air raid warning sounded at 4am.