Last update:November 23, 2024, 08:24 IST

French officials declined to say whether Ukraine was using its SCALP missiles to strike Russia.

US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed the war in West Asia and Ukraine in a phone call. (IMAGE: REUTERS FILE)

US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday, where Israel is bombing the militant group Hezbollah, the White House said.

“They reviewed developments in Ukraine as well as the Middle East, including efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon that will allow residents on both sides of the Blue Line to return home safely. security,” the statement said.

“Today I spoke with President Macron of France on a number of global and bilateral issues, ranging from developments in Ukraine to our work to secure a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon that will allow residents to go home,” Biden said in a social media post. X site.

Officials from the French military and office of the president, meanwhile, declined to say whether Ukraine was using long-range French SCALP missiles to strike targets in Russia, citing France’s policy of military secrecy. French President Emmanuel Macron has been calling for such a measure for months.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday promised more combat test firings of an experimental hypersonic missile launched over Ukraine, while Volodymyr Zelensky called for modernized air defense systems to deal with the new threat.

A day after Moscow fired the new missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Putin said more tests of the new Oreshnik missile would be carried out.

The introduction of the new weapon to the battlefield has further heightened tensions in a nearly three-year-old war, and comes as kyiv’s forces struggle on the ground.

On Friday, Russia claimed the capture of another village in eastern Ukraine.

Putin’s hints on Thursday of strikes against Western countries raised fears that the war could escalate into a global conflict.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Agencies)

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