TOP HEADLINES

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to meet with the leaders of NATO members at a the end of a key summit of the Western military alliance in Vilnius, one day after they rebuffed the Ukrainian leader's call for a timeline for membership.

• In compensation, G7 countries will announce an international framework for long-term security assurances for Kyiv, officials said, a decision Moscow called "potentially very dangerous" for the West. READ MORE BELOW

• That's after Zelenskyy said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already pledged to give Ukraine additional launchers and missiles for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems. 

• Amid heavy fighting in Ukraine and a wave of Russian drone strikes on its cities, Kyiv reported some success near the Russian-occupied eastern city of Bakhmut as its troops press on with a counteroffensive against Moscow's forces. In contrast, Russia said its defenses were holding out around the devastated city.

• Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is set to challenge EU sanctions imposed on him amid the Ukraine conflict, arguing that the restrictions were imposed simply because he is a well-known Russian.

• President Joe Biden is expected to trumpet the diplomatic victories of Kyiv and its Western allies in conflict-weary Europe when he speaks at the NATO summit later today, highlighting what he will say is the unity of the U.S.-led alliance despite divisions among Western governments over how to end the fighting. 

• The UK has pledged to provide Ukraine with more military assistance, including more than 70 combat and logistic vehicles, thousands of rounds of ammunition for Challenger 2 tanks, and a $65 million support package for equipment repair.

• Hackers allegedly working for Russia's foreign intelligence agency targeted dozens of diplomats at embassies in Ukraine with a fake used car advert in a bid to break into their computers, according to a cybersecurity firm report seen by Reuters.

• The conflict will continue until the West gives up "obsessive desire" to dominate and defeat Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told an Indonesian newspaper ahead of the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum in Jakarta this week.

IN DETAIL

'Security assurances' for Ukraine

The U.S., the UK and Kyiv's Western allies are due to announce what they are calling new security assurances for Ukraine at a key NATO summit in Vilnius, a day after the military alliance refused to offer the conflict-stricken country a timeline for accession.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the outcome as "absurd", saying Ukraine deserved a clear timetable while it was fighting Russian forces.

Instead, a declaration by the G7, some of the world's richest countries "will set out how allies will support Ukraine over the coming years to end the war and deter and respond to any future attack", said a British government statement.

In practise, this would come in the form of bilateral agreements with Kyiv on long-term military and financial aid to keep Ukraine's army and economy running. A White House official said the U.S. would start such talks with Kyiv "soon".

"We expect more non-G7 allies and partners will want to join afterwards and do their own bilateral versions of this," said the official. The G7 is made up of the U.S., Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy and the UK.

NATO, an alliance based on the concept that an attack on one is an attack on all - has avoided giving any firm military commitments to Ukraine, worried that would risk taking it closer to a direct military standoff with nuclear-armed Russia.

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy was holding bilateral meetings with the U.S., Canada, Germany, Britain, Japan and the Netherlands on the sidelines of the second day of the NATO summit in Vilnius to secure more arms for his counteroffensive.

"More weapons for our warriors, more protection of life for the whole of Ukraine! We will bring new important defense tools to Ukraine," he said on Twitter.

NATO says Ukraine will not be allowed in while at war with Russia, with Washington and Berlin warning against any moves that could put the alliance in a direct conflict with Moscow.

However, backers of Ukraine's swift NATO accession in eastern Europe and elsewhere have criticized what they see as a disappointing outcome of the first day of the summit.

Russia, which says NATO's eastward expansion is an existential threat to its own security, hit out at its decision to give Ukraine further security guarantees, calling them misguided and "potentially very dangerous" for the West.

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