Paris, 11 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) - French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to supply Ukraine with more weapons, including longer-range cruise missiles, to ward off the Russian invasion.

In view of Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive, Macron said at the beginning of the NATO summit in Vilnius on Tuesday that he had decided to increase the "delivery of weapons and equipment" so that the Ukrainians could also carry out attacks from a longer distance.

"We have decided to deliver new missiles that will allow Ukraine to strike at depth," Macron explained.

According to the Élysée Palace, these are cruise missiles of the Franco-British Scalp/Storm Shadow type. Britain has already provided Ukraine with Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Due to their range, these would allow Ukrainian forces to attack far behind the current front line.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Macron's announcement a "wrong decision" that would have harmful consequences for the Ukrainian side.

"Of course, that forces us to take countermeasures," Peskov said.

Moscow claims that arms deliveries to Ukraine cannot influence the course of the armed conflict, which Moscow refers to as a "special military operation."

They would only aggravate the fate of the "Kiev regime," Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.