Zelenskyy meets with UK and NATO leaders as he seeks support for Ukraine's 'victory plan'

LONDON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at 10 Downing St. in London on Thursday for talks with the leaders of Britain and NATO on his “victory plan” for the war against Russia.

Zelenskyy is meeting Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, before traveling to Paris for talks with President Emmanuel Macron.

Starmer said the Downing Street meetings, also attended by U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Defense Secretary John Healey and armed forces chief Adm. Tony Radakin, were a chance to “go through the plan, to talk in more detail."

Zelenskyy is to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Friday and will also travel to Italy to discuss the plan.

He had been due to present his blueprint at a weekend meeting of Western leaders and defense ministers in Germany, but it has been postponed because U.S. President Joe Biden said he had to stay home to respond to Hurricane Milton’ s landfall in Florida.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday he hoped the meeting could be rescheduled soon.

The details of Zelenskyy’s plan have been kept quiet but contours have emerged, including the need for fast action on decisions Western allies have been mulling since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday at a summit in Croatia with leaders of southeastern European states that the plan seeks to strengthen Ukraine “both geopolitically and on the battlefield” before any kind of dialogue with Russia.

“Weakness of any of our allies will inspire (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” he said. “That’s why we’re asking them to strengthen us, in terms of security guarantees, in terms of weapons, in terms of our future after this war. In my view, he (Putin) only understands force.”

Kyiv is still awaiting word from Western partners on its repeated requests to use the long-range weapons they provide to hit targets deep inside Russia. While some, including the U.K., are thought to be willing, Biden has held back out of concern it could escalate the conflict.

Ukraine’s leader last visited London in July, soon after Starmer’s Labour Party government was elected, when he addressed a meeting of the British Cabinet.

Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, said Thursday’s meeting would involve “broad strategic discussions” on U.K. and allied support for Ukraine during a “crucial period,” rather than specific decisions.

It comes as Russia continues a slow but relentless drive deeper into Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and targets key infrastructure with airstrikes.

The death toll from a Russian ballistic missile strike on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa has risen to eight, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said Thursday. It’s the latest in a string of assaults on the Black Sea port.

A civilian container ship under a Panamanian flag was hit in the attack on Wednesday, Kiper said on Telegram. He said it was the third attack on a civilian vessel in the past four days.

Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, John Leicester in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrive at 10 Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet inside 10 Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet inside 10 Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet inside 10 Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy leaves 10 Downing Street after a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to 10 Downing Street as Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, steps out in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak during a bilateral meeting inside 10 Downing Street, in London, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Henry Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak during a bilateral meeting inside 10 Downing Street, in London, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Henry Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak during a bilateral meeting inside 10 Downing Street, in London, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Henry Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak during a bilateral meeting inside 10 Downing Street, in London, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Henry Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)

Staff members prepare the red carpet for the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to 10 Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to 10 Downing Street in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip killed at least 23 people on Thursday, with the toll likely to rise, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said it targeted militants hiding among civilians.

Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across the Palestinian enclave even as attention has shifted to its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and rising tensions with Iran. The military launched a large-scale air and ground operation against Hamas in northern Gaza earlier this week.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought, confirmed the toll from the strike in the central town of Deir al-Balah. It said several other people were wounded.

An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances streaming into the hospital and counted the bodies, many of which arrived in pieces.

“We appeal to the world. We are dying!” one man screamed.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike targeting a militant command and control center inside the school, without providing evidence. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of hiding out in them.

Witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons said the strike occurred while school managers were meeting with representatives of an aid group in a room normally used by Hamas-run police who provide security. They said there were no police in the room at the time.

The Hamas-run government operated a civilian police force numbering in the tens of thousands. They largely vanished from the streets after the start of the war as Israel targeted them with airstrikes, but plainclothes Hamas security personnel still exert control over most areas.

Hamas has continued to launch attacks on Israeli forces and fire occasional rockets into Israel more than a year after its Oct. 7 attack ignited the war.

Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and rampaged through army bases and farming communities in that attack, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

The Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, drawing Israeli airstrikes in retaliation.

The fighting steadily escalated, and eventually boiled over into all-out war in recent weeks, with Israel carrying out waves of heavy strikes across Lebanon and launching a ground invasion. Hezbollah has expanded its rocket fire to more populated areas deeper inside Israel, causing few casualties but disrupting daily life.

Iran supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups across the region that refer to themselves as the Axis of Resistance against Israel. Iran launched some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel last week in retaliation for the killing of top Hamas and Hezbollah militants.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that its response to the Iranian missile attack will be “lethal” and “surprising,” without providing further details, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Tents are crammed together as displaced Palestinians camp along the beach of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)