Zakharova called France's authorization to fire missiles at Russian Federation as Ukraine's getting to Ukraine

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on November 23 called France's permission to fire long-range SCALP missiles at Russian territory as Ukraine's pushback.

"[This authorization] is not support for Ukraine, but its assassination," TASS quoted Zakharova as saying.

Earlier in the day, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in an interview with the BBC that Ukraine could launch French long-range SCALP missiles at Russia.

The channel said Barrot held talks with his British counterpart David Lammy on Friday and said Western allies should not limit their support for Ukraine in the fight against Russia and "should not set and mark red lines."

"We will support Ukraine as intensively and for as long as necessary. Why? Because our security is at stake. Every time the Russian army advances one square kilometer, the threat becomes one square kilometer closer to Europe," the minister added.

Asked whether this could mean the participation of French troops in hostilities, he said that no option could be ruled out.

Earlier, on November 21, Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said that the French Foreign Ministry would not name the exact number of SCALP long-range missiles delivered to Ukraine. Lemoine also stressed that they had been delivered to Ukraine because the country "has the right to defense".

Before that, on November 19, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that France had a limited number of SCALP long-range surface-to-air missiles for delivery to Ukraine. According to the newspaper, France provided only 10 missiles out of 40 announced. At the same time, French President Emmanuel Macron praised the decision of the US authorities to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles for strikes against Russia.

For his part, the head of the EU diplomatic service, Josep Borrel, confirmed that the US administration had lifted restrictions on strikes with US missiles at a distance of up to 300 kilometers deep into Russian territory. At the same time, Deputy National Security Advisor to the US President John Feiner did not confirm that Washington had given such permission to Kiev.

However, the Russian Defense Ministry said that calculations of the S-400 air defense missile system and the Pantsir air defense missile and cannon system in the Bryansk region shot down five ATACMS missiles fired by the AFU and damaged another one. The wreckage of the latter fell on the territory of the military facility, without casualties or damage.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine amid Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which began on February 24, 2022. The decision to carry it out was taken by Russia due to the aggravation of the situation in the region due to the increased shelling by Ukrainian troops.