Zelenskyy rallies Europe in Paris as Ukraine widens drone war on Russia

Kyiv,UPDATED: Jul 13, 2026 17:18 IST

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Paris on Monday for talks with European leaders supporting Kyiv, as allies sought to underline their long-term backing for Ukraine and discuss how to respond to Russia. At the same time, European foreign ministers were meeting separately in Brussels to discuss Ukraine's needs and what they see as Russia's threat to the continent.

The meetings came as both sides reported fresh military action away from the front line. Ukraine said it had struck 105 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov over eight days, while Russia said it had downed hundreds of Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow. Fresh Russian attacks on Ukraine also left more than 70 people in hospital in Zaporizhzhia, according to local officials.

Kyiv and its European backers want to build on what they describe as Ukraine's recent successes and push Russian President Vladimir Putin towards talks to end the fighting, though Moscow has shown no willingness to compromise despite peace efforts by the Trump administration. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would closely follow the Paris meeting but dismissed its aims. "This is a coalition of warmongers," Peskov said. "They are driven by the profound delusion that it's possible to inflict a strategic defeat on our country, so this is a coalition of the deluded, a coalition of those who incite the war."

Analysts and Western officials say Ukraine's advances in drone technology have in recent months given it an edge. They say strikes on supply routes behind the front line have slowed Russian momentum and made its progress on the battlefield more costly. Zelenskyy is also pushing plans to jointly develop anti-ballistic air defences with European countries to help protect Ukraine's power grid from Russian attacks. US President Donald Trump's pledge last week to give Ukraine a licence to produce Patriot air-defence systems could be a major breakthrough for Kyiv, although experts and Ukrainian officials say turning that idea into operational weapons would likely take years.

Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said Ukrainian forces struck 105 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov, next to the Crimean peninsula, between July 6 and 13. He said the vessels included tankers, dry cargo ships, a ferry and tugboats. Ukraine says the campaign is part of a wider effort to isolate Crimea and disrupt Russian logistics, with the peninsula facing its worst fuel crisis since Russia illegally annexed it in 2014. Crimea remains a key rear base for Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine. The claims could not be independently verified, and Russian officials did not immediately comment.

The Paris meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, which brings together more than 30 countries supporting Ukraine, was expected to include about 25 heads of state and government. The large turnout was seen as a show of continued commitment to Ukraine and a warning to Russia as Moscow tests Europe's resilience. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said he would summon Russia's ambassador to France and impose sanctions on Russian hackers. He told BFMTV-RMC that the issue involved "a vast cyber campaign aimed at sabotage and espionage, carried out by Russia in about 10 European countries."

Ukraine's neighbours have also felt the impact of the war. Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a drone launched during Russia's overnight attacks on Ukraine's Odesa region crashed and exploded on Moldovan territory. It described the incident as "serious and unacceptable."

Russia said its air defences had downed 350 Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow since late Sunday, including 50 near the capital, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Andrei Vorobyov, who heads the region around Moscow, said 81 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight. He said three people were killed and three others were injured in the Ukrainian attack in the Pionersky settlement just outside Istra in the western part of the Moscow region. Ukraine, meanwhile, said Russia launched 134 long-range strike drones and three guided aviation missiles at the country. In Zaporizhzhia, military administration head Ivan Fedorov said more than 70 people were hospitalised after recent Russian strikes damaged 11 apartment blocks.

Russia's Federal Security Service said it had thwarted what it described as a Ukrainian plan to attack the Ukrainka air base in the far eastern Amur region and the Shagol air base in the Chelyabinsk region in the southern Urals. The agency said small drones were smuggled into Russia's western Bryansk region using air balloons and larger transport drones, and were then taken by car close to the air bases by Ukrainian agents. It said Ukrainian agents and their accomplices had been arrested and 24 drones seized, and described the alleged plot as part of planned strikes on military infrastructure that were "unprecedented in its scale and the level of threat." It also referred to a Ukrainian covert operation just over a year ago, code named Operation Spiderweb, which Ukrainian officials said destroyed or damaged nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet using drones brought into Russian territory.

The day brought a twin message from the war: diplomatic support for Kyiv remains visible in European capitals, while both Ukraine and Russia continue to press drone and missile attacks that are shaping the conflict far beyond the front line.

With PTI Inputs

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