• Ukrainian President Zelensky criticizes international partners for taking summer holidays while Ukraine is under attack by Russia.
• Zelensky accuses Western partners of practicing "diplomacy by the book" and not providing enough help during the ongoing conflict with Russia.
• Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian invasion for over four and a half years, with the capital Kiev facing intensified bombardment in recent weeks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized representatives of Ukraine's international partner nations for taking summer holidays while his country is fighting for its survival.

"For the past two weeks, Europe and the whole world - which is helping us - have been on holiday," Zelensky lamented to journalists on Tuesday.

He said Russia had used the time to launch attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, partly to disrupt the start of the school year, which was marked nationwide on Tuesday.

Zelensky accused Western partners of practising "diplomacy by the book". Their approach, he said, was: "If it's holiday time, then it's holiday time."

For him, however, this was a "very unpleasant reality". He had repeatedly appealed to the international community for help in recent weeks.

Zelensky did not specify who he was referring to. Just under a week ago, European Council President António Costa, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and other leaders travelled to Kiev for Ukraine's Independence Day.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron took part in the discussions via video link, pledging further aid.

The Ukrainian capital in particular has been under intensified Russian bombardment with drones and ballistic missiles for several weeks.

Kiev has repeatedly urged its Western partner states to increase supplies of ammunition for air defence systems, which are in short supply.

Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian invasion for more than four and a half years.