Five European Defence Ministers Convene in Paris to Plan Ukraine Aid

Defence ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom gathered in Paris on Monday.

The group met to coordinate military assistance for Ukraine.

French officials stated the agenda also included European defence strategy and the conflict in the Middle East.

The meeting occurred while hostilities intensified between Moscow and Kyiv.

Russian forces struck the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday morning.

Regional Governor Mykhailo Semikin reported that four people were injured in the attack.

Ukrainian drones hit Voronezh, Russia, earlier in the day.

Regional Governor Alexander Gusev said two people died and 17 were wounded.

Gusev noted that many of the injured were passengers on a commuter train in the left-bank suburb.

Debris from an unmanned aerial vehicle fell on the moving train, injuring two passengers seriously.

Fires broke out at several industrial sites, a business center, and a residential building in Voronezh.

The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed its forces hit a power station and a warehouse in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, as well as a power station in the Khmelnytskyi region. It also targeted port infrastructure in Chornomorsk and a cargo vessel bound for Odesa that it said was being used for military purposes. Ukrainian emergency services reported two additional injuries from Russian strikes on the Chernihiv region. This escalation marks the fourth and a half year of the war, with Ukraine targeting Russian oil refineries and Russia conducting relentless air strikes. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November. In an interview aired on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the strikes on Russian refineries, which US President Donald Trump has demanded Kyiv halt. Zelenskyy said Moscow must stop hitting Ukraine's power infrastructure for Kyiv to pause those strikes. He added that if Russia continues its attacks, the US should allow the use of Starshield over Russia to detect missile sites or supply Patriot missiles. Ukraine confirmed on Saturday that the Starlink satellite system and its military version, Starshield, were fully functional after a week of restrictions.