KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukraine's top diplomatic priority is securing its allies' help to buy and build more air defense systems, after visiting three European capitals in 48 hours and obtaining promises of further military and financial support from Germany and Norway. Zelenskyy was scheduled to travel to Italy on Wednesday as part of the diplomatic push.

"Every day we need air defense missiles — every day Russia continues its strikes," Zelenskyy posted on the Telegram messaging app. He said he is asking European countries to keep adding money to a fund that allows purchases from the United States of American-made weapons for Ukraine, and is championing joint weapons production agreements, including for drones and missiles. Zelenskyy also said he is pushing for the European Union to move quickly on providing a promised 90-billion-euro loan.

Russian strikes hit more than six areas of Ukraine behind the front line from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to Zelenskyy and local officials. An 8-year-old boy was killed by a strike in the Cherkasy region, and a woman was killed when a strike hit a kiosk near a bus stop in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Russia launched 324 drones and three ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 309 of the 324 drones. Russia also fired a FAB-1500 glide bomb weighing 1.5 metric tons at central Sloviansk before dawn Wednesday, destroying a children's sports facility that was a city landmark, according to Vadym Liakh, a local official.

Russian forces struck two universities in Dnipro overnight, damaging academic buildings, dormitories and nearby homes, according to Mayor Borys Filatov. The blast wave shattered more than 1,000 windows in surrounding buildings, and there were no military targets in the area, Filatov said.

Defense leaders from more than 50 partner nations were scheduled to hold an online meeting Wednesday to coordinate weapons aid for Kyiv, chaired by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and British Defense Secretary John Healey, with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte due to attend. Britain announced it will send 120,000 drones to Ukraine this year, including long-range strike drones, intelligence and reconnaissance drones, logistics drones and maritime capabilities.

After more than four years of fighting Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has developed expertise in intercepting drones in combat and new air defense technology but lacks funding to increase production.