The European Union’s top diplomat has ramped up pressure on Ukraine’s supporters to lift the restrictions on the use of Western weapons inside Russia.

In advance of a meeting in Brussels of the bloc’s foreign and defence ministers, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday that curbs on the use of weapons against Russian targets needed to be lifted in accordance with international law. 

"The weaponry that we are providing to Ukraine has to have full use, and the restrictions have to be lifted in order for the Ukrainians to be able to target the places where Russia is bombing them," Borrell told reporters. "Otherwise, the weaponry is useless". 

The Ukrainian Air Force announced on Thursday that it had destroyed 60 of 74 Russian attack drones and two out of five missiles during an overnight attack. The air force said it lost track of 14 of the drones, which have likely fallen on Ukrainian territory.

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said falling debris damaged windows and caused a fire in a residential building, which was later extinguished. 

Ukraine is pushing its Western allies for additional air defences and support in jointly shooting down targets over the country to repel Russia’s intense drone attacks.