French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that Paris will send new interceptor missiles to Ukraine as Russia escalates its air attack on Kyiv.
Macron, in a post on X, expressed his "horror" at the Russian attack on a mall in Kryvyi Rig, which killed at least 16 people.
“I announced to President Zelensky the strengthening of our support, with the delivery of interceptors and the continuation of our cooperation...,” Macron said.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has pulled Russia’s ambassador from London, accusing Britain of taking the “path of confrontation”.
Andrey Kelin, who served as the Russian ambassador to the UK for over seven years, vacated his post on 21 July, reports The Times. It is understood that Moscow has not sought to appoint a replacement amid fears of a diplomatic breakdown.
It comes after prime minister Andy Burnham said the UK is continuing to “support Ukraine 100 per cent” after Moscow threatened consequences for the reported use of British drones for strikes deep into Russia.
Putin warned Kyiv has “opened Pandora’s box” after a campaign of Ukrainian strikes killed at least 10 people in Russia.
Russia has lost around 1,476,580 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, The Kyiv Independent reported.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shared a report to Telegram that showed Russia has lost 12,292 tanks, 25,202 armored combat vehicles, 138,219 vehicles and fuel tanks, 48,451 artillery systems, 2,054 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,584 air defense systems, 439 aircraft, 354 helicopters, 474,641 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,352 unmanned ground systems, 5,052 cruise missiles, 35 ships and boats, two submarines, and 4,569 pieces of special equipment.
Ukrainian drones targeted a Russian oil refinery and an online retailer warehouse, injuring several people in the Samara region on Saturday.
The strikes follow a ‘double-tap’ Russian attack on a shopping centre in central Ukraine that killed 16 people and wounded more than 130 others.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the shopping centre attack as a “terrorist act” and promised a firm response.
At least nine people, including two children, remained missing on Saturday and are believed to be trapped under the rubble of the shopping centre.
Subsequent overnight Russian drone and missile strikes killed two further people in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said in comments published yesterday that Kyiv had opened "Pandora's box" with its strikes on Russian economic targets, saying that Russia would hit back at Ukraine's "most sensitive economic sectors".
"The Kyiv regime set out to damage our economy. What did it do? It opened this Pandora’s box itself. Well then, expect a response targeting your most sensitive economic sectors," Putin said in comments to a Russian state television journalist.
Police in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast have launched a criminal proceedings against the director of the mall in Kryvyi Rih, which was struck by a Russian attack that killed at least 16 people.
Officials said that the director was being investigated for negligence after the business allegedly remained open during an air raid alert and during the Russian strike.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said he was ready for peace talks with Ukraine, but only "based on realities on the ground".
He claimed that the proposal sent by Ukraine was unacceptable.
"At the same time, the proposals being brought to us are sometimes, I would say, rather exotic and unacceptable. We are always ready for dialogue, but only based on the realities on the ground," Putin said.
