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French President Emmanuel Macron will brief fellow EU leaders on Wednesday via a videoconference on his talks with US President Donald Trump, ahead of a March 6 emergency summit on European support for Ukraine. The news came as Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday it had shot down 128 Ukrainian drones overnight. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.
Ukraine’s top commander discussed continued military support with British defence chief
Ukraine’s army chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said he discussed continued military support for Kyiv and battlefield developments with British Defence Chief Antony Radakin.
“Admiral Sir Antony Radakin once again assured me of the United Kingdom’s readiness to provide military assistance to the Ukrainian Defence Forces,” Syrskyi said in a statement on Facebook.
One killed, several injured in Russia drone attack on Kyiv region, governor says
An overnight Russian drone attack on the Kyiv region killed one person, injured at least four and set several houses on fire, Mykola Kalashnyk, governor of the region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital, said on Wednesday.
The body of a civilian was found in a residential house that caught fire as a result of the attack, Kalashnyk wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
“My condolences to the family and loved ones,” he said.
He said that at least four other people in the region were injured overnight and at least five homes and two multi-storey residential buildings were damaged in the attacks. Kalashnyk posted several photos on Telegram of firefighters battling large flames at night in what appeared to be residential buildings.
Russia says it downed 128 Ukrainian drones over its regions and Crimea
Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday it had shot down 128 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian regions and annexed Crimea, one of the largest such attacks since the start of the conflict.
Kyiv has stepped up its air strikes against energy and military facilities on Russian territory in recent months, a campaign in response to Moscow’s relentless bombardment of its cities and energy infrastructure.
Air defence forces “intercepted and destroyed 128 Ukrainian aerial drones” including 30 over the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
In addition to the Krasnodar region, known for its Black Sea resorts, drone attacks also targeted the Russian regions of Bryansk and Kursk, which border Ukraine, according to the ministry.
Macron to brief EU leaders on Trump Ukraine talks
French President Emmanuel Macron will brief fellow EU leaders Wednesday on his talks with US President Donald Trump, ahead of an emergency summit on European support for Ukraine.
Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the bloc’s 27 member states, announced on X he had convened a videoconference with Macron to prepare for the March 6 leaders’ talks.
Europe has scrambled for a unified response since Trump two weeks ago declared his readiness to negotiate with Russia— and without European involvement — on ending the three-year-old Ukraine war.
- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that US President Donald Trump was “working towards a durable peace in Ukraine“, according to Downing Street.
- Dozens of countries rallied behind Ukraine at a meeting at the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, a day after the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution that takes a neutral stance on the conflict.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said a UN Security Council vote to adopt a US-drafted resolution that took a neutral position on the Ukraine conflict showed the causes of the war were being better understood.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters and AP)
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