Ukraine -Russia war latest: Zelensky pushes for EU and Nato to back his ‘victory plan’ against Putin’s forces

When nightfall descends on a suburban area northwest of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the Witches of Bucha come alive.

By day, the women work as doctors and teachers, but by night, they safeguard Ukraine from the Russian drones that surge above them.

The women – who go by the moniker of the Witches of Bucha – are volunteers in air defence units.

As increasing numbers of men are deployed to the frontlines, the volunteers have undergone training to wield machine guns and assault rifles to shoot down drones filled with explosives sent from Russia.

“My role is to listen for them,” Valentyna, a veterinarian, tells the BBC. “It’s nervous work. But we have to stay focused, to [listen out] for the slightest sound.”

Our women’s correspondent Maya Oppenheim reports:

Ukraine’s allies must keep supplying it with ammunition in 2025, the Czech, Danish and Dutch prime ministers said in a joint statement on Thursday, as they vowed during a meeting in Brussels to continue doing so themselves.

The Czech Republic has this year led an initiative to buy ammunition for Kyiv with funding from NATO allies, in order to make up for shortages on the frontlines in the war against invading Russian forces.

“The Ammunition Initiative must continue in 2025,” the leaders said. “Our countries are already finalizing further concrete projects for deliveries of 155 mm ammunition within the Initiative, as well as other calibres on a bilateral basis.”

They said it was crucial for Kyiv’s other allies to quickly make decisions about supplying funds for ammunition.

“Only early indication and allocation of funding will secure a stable and predictable flow of ammunition to continue in the early months of 2025 to make sure Ukraine is well stocked,” they said.

Last Thursday Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the initiative to supply large-caliber ammunition to Ukraine would meet the target of delivering half a million shells by the end of the year.

The UK’s involvement in European air defence and long-range missile development is a sign of the “new determination to work more closely” with continental allies, defence secretary John Healey has said.

Thousands of UK troops will be put on stand-by to deploy to Estonia’s border with Russia under a new agreement Britain has signed with the Baltic nation in another sign of the commitment to European defence, Mr Healey said at a meeting of Nato counterparts.

Arriving at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Mr Healey said: “Today, we will make the commitment to reinforce Nato’s eastern flank with a new plan alongside Estonia for our forces there.

“And we will make a commitment, a UK commitment, to bolstering the future of Europe’s defences, leading a new initiative to net together the European air defence systems and to work together with other European allies to develop long-range missiles.

“This is part of the UK’s new determination to work more closely with other European allies on security for the future, and Europe’s security is guaranteed by this Nato alliance.”

Norway will supply six F-16 jets to Ukraine “in the near future”, Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov has said, following talks with his Norwegian counterpart Bjoern Arild Gram.