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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.
Ukraine facing shortage of Patriot interceptors
Russia is bolstering its battlefield offensive with an escalating air war on Ukrainian cities made worse by a critical shortage of U.S.-designed Patriot interceptors.
Zelensky said the 264 interceptors Ukraine is expecting to have received in 2026 represent a significant drop from 2025, when Ukraine received 364, and 2023, when it received 675.
He added that Russia was aiming to develop a capacity to produce up to 1,300 ballistic missiles per year.
Over the summer, Ukraine has escalated a campaign of drone strikes targeting Russian economic infrastructure, including oil refineries and online retailers’ warehouses, seeking to destroy infrastructure it says is central to Russia’s war effort.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments on Saturday that Kyiv had opened “Pandora’s box” by striking economic targets, saying Russia would hit back at Ukraine’s “most sensitive economic sectors”.
(Reuters)
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 12:01
Norway to give over $9 billion to Ukraine in 2027
Norway plans to give another 85 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.2 billion) in financial support to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country’s government said in a statement on Sunday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Norway’s donation will be for both military and humanitarian spending, Stoere was quoted as saying in the text of a speech released by the government in Oslo.
“Supporting and rebuilding Ukraine is not assistance alone. It is an investment in Europe’s own security,” Stoere said.
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 11:15
Putin will draft 300,000 new troops after September elections, Zelensky says
Ukraine believes Russia is planning to mobilise an additional 300,000 troops for its war effort after parliamentary elections in September, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In comments to reporters released on Sunday, Zelensky added that Russia could draft hundreds of thousands more in 2027 for its key goal of capturing the rest of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 10:33
Russian online retailer Ozon warehouse in Orenburg region hit in drone attack
Two industrial facilities were hit by drone debris, including a warehouse owned by Ozon, a major Russian online retailer.
The governor of Russia’s Orenburg region Yevgeny Solntsev said that the Russian defence ministry had repelled six drones over the region, adding that no one had been injured. He did not name the second damaged facility.
Russia’s defence ministry said it downed 328 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Ozon, Russia’s second-largest online retailer, said in a statement on Telegram that the company had evacuated more than 300 people and that work at its Orenburg region logistics centre had been halted.
Rebecca Whittaker23 August 2026 09:45
Ukrainian refugees open America’s first ever jellyfish museum in Florida
Inside a darkened venue in South Florida, glowing saltwater tanks and wall projections cast light upon tentacled predators as they swirl and pulse in hypnotic rhythms.
Located in Pompano Beach, just north of Fort Lauderdale, the private Jellyfish Museum is believed to be the first museum in the United States focused exclusively on the translucent invertebrates, and among a rare few globally, according to founders and local officials.
Rebecca Whittaker23 August 2026 09:15
Russia has lost 1,476,580 troops in Ukraine, report claims
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.
Rebecca Whittaker23 August 2026 08:45
Recap: Ukraine retaliates for Russia’s ‘double-tap’ strike on shopping mall
- 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.
Rebecca Whittaker23 August 2026 08:15
Watch: Dozens killed after Russian drone strike on busy shopping mall in Zelensky’s hometownDozens killed after Russian drone strike on busy shopping mall in Zelensky’s hometown
Rebecca Whittaker23 August 2026 07:46
Putin says Ukraine opened ‘Pandora’s box’ with strikes on economic targets
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.
Ukraine has this summer escalated a campaign of drone strikes targeting Russian economic infrastructure, including oil refineries and online retailers’ warehouses, seeking to destroy infrastructure it says is central to Russia’s war effort.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar23 August 2026 07:00
Supermarket director under probe for keeing business open even after air raid alert
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.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar23 August 2026 06:30