French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to strengthen support for Ukraine with the delivery of interceptor missiles, following a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two leaders discussed Kyiv's shortage of air defences as Russian strikes intensify, pushing civilian deaths to their highest level since the early months of the invasion.
Macron's commitment to missile delivery
During the call on Saturday, Macron said France would continue working with the Anti-Missile Coalition, launched at a meeting in Paris in July. The coalition consists of 10 European countries developing an anti-ballistic missile system as a cheaper alternative to the US Patriots. Macron previously stated that France would advance the deployment of the new SAMP/T system to Ukraine and license Kyiv to manufacture the interceptor missiles, as well as the SCALP long-range cruise missile and other munitions.
Speaking on Telegram, Zelenskyy said: “We agreed to accelerate the delivery of the latest French equipment and missiles,” without providing further details. He added: “Thank you for confirming the readiness to provide licences for missile production.” Macron wrote on X: “It is crucial to provide Ukraine with all the necessary means to defend its skies and thwart this aggression.”
Russian attacks intensify
The Patriot air defence system remains the only weapon in Ukraine's arsenal capable of downing high-speed ballistic missiles used by Russia. Russia has pounded Ukraine, especially the capital Kyiv, with such attacks in recent months. These hard-to-intercept weapons reach their target within minutes, making it virtually impossible for people to reach shelters in time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Ukraine's strikes, which Kyiv says seek to choke off financing for Moscow's war effort, had opened a “Pandora's box” of Russian retaliation. Ukraine's allies in the Coalition of the Willing, an initiative led by France and Britain, will meet on Monday to discuss ramping up pressure on Moscow to halt its invasion. Diplomacy with the US has stalled, as Washington focuses on its war with Iran.
Deadly attacks and casualties
Macron expressed his “horror and emotion” to Zelenskyy over the attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, which killed 16 people. Rescuers sifted through the rubble of the site in the president's home town. Russia also fired a ballistic missile towards Kyiv in the middle of the day, while German foreign minister Johann Wadephul was visiting on Saturday for talks with Zelenskyy. Two people were killed and several wounded in the Boryspil district, on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Russia's defence ministry said it had struck at trucks outfitted for transporting long-range drones near Kyiv, as well as targets linked to the Ukrainian army in the Odesa region on the Black Sea. The Odesa region's governor, Oleg Kiper, said three people had been wounded, including a 16-year-old girl, in a “prolonged and combined strike” that hit a house and grain silos. At least four were killed in a series of strikes on the frontline region of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials said.
Drone attacks on Russian targets
Ukrainian drones killed at least 10 people in attacks against targets across Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including a warehouse owned by online retailer Ozon and an industrial facility, Russian officials said on Saturday. Ozon, Russia's second-largest online retailer, said in a statement on Telegram that the attack had caused injuries. This is the first attack on Ozon after weeks of drone strikes on its larger rival Wildberries, which Ukraine has cast as part of a wider campaign against economic infrastructure underpinning the Russian war effort.
On the Crimean peninsula, at least two people were killed and 10 injured when a Ukrainian drone struck a city bus, said the Moscow-backed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev. The peninsula was seized from Ukraine by Russia in 2014. In the Luhansk region, an eastern Ukrainian province almost all of which is controlled by Russia, Moscow-installed governor Leonid Pasechnik said that two civilians, including a 16-year-old boy, had been killed and nine more were wounded.
