Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shake hands during their meeting in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday he expects the upcoming NATO summit to provide specific steps to strengthen his country's air defenses against Russia, hours after a Russian missile attack killed at least 28 people in various locations, including a children's hospital in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw to discuss further support for Ukraine from NATO, as well as signing a bilateral cooperation and defense document.

“We would like to see greater resolve in our partners and hear resolute responses to these attacks," Zelenskyy told a joint news conference, stressing that Ukraine will take its own retaliatory steps.

Zelenskyy stopped in Warsaw en route to a NATO summit which begins Tuesday in Washington, marking the Western defense alliance’s 75th anniversary. Leaders are expected to discuss ways of providing reliable long-term security aid and military training for Ukraine more than two years after Russia's invasion.

At the start of the press conference with Tusk, Zelenskyy asked those gathered to observe a moment of silence for the victims.

Tusk offered every available form of help for the children evacuated from the bombed hospital.

The two leaders signed a cooperation and defense agreement that spells out Poland's continued support for Ukraine in defense, especially air defense, energy security for Ukraine, and Poland's participation in reconstruction.

A legion of Ukrainian volunteers currently abroad is to be trained in Poland with the aim of joining the defense effort on Ukraine's soil, Zelenskyy said.

At the NATO summit Poland will be represented by President Andrzej Duda, who was scheduled to meet with Zelenskyy later Monday. Poland is among the staunchest supporters of Ukraine and has offered some $4 billion in military equipment, training and other items for defense. It is also offering humanitarian, political and economic support.

An initiative likely to be endorsed at the three-day summit is NATO taking more responsibility for coordinating training and military and financial assistance for Ukraine’s forces, instead of the U.S. Europeans also are talking about giving Ukrainians a greater presence within NATO bodies, though there’s no consensus yet on Ukraine joining the alliance.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024