France will "very soon" transfer back its embassy in Ukraine to Kyiv from Lviv, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in a phone call.
The French embassy was moved to Lviv in early March, the Foreign Ministry statement said.
UK Sanctions continue
The UK has imposed personal sanctions against Russian businessmen Yevgeny Tenenbaum and David Davidovich, The British government said on Thursday.
It is noted that measures against Canadian Tenenbaum and Davidovich, who has Russian and Israeli passports, were taken because of their "close connection" with businessman Roman Abramovich, who is already under British sanctions.
According to the restrictions, all Tenenbaum's assets in the country will be frozen, his private jets are prohibited from entering the airspace of the United Kingdom. Even tougher sanctions were applied against Davidovich, which also include a complete ban on entry into the UK.
Weapons to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for a list of heavy weapons needed by Ukraine to continue its fight against Russia, in a video address on Wednesday.
"Ukraine destroyed more Russian weapons and military equipment than some armies in Europe currently have," Zelensky said, in English in a video published on the Defence Ministry's Facebook page, "but Russia still has the capacity to attack."
"The horrific images from Bucha and Mariupol can only be stopped with armed forces, Ukraine needs weapon supplies now. artillery, armored vehicle, air defense systems, and combat aircraft," Zelensky said.
Zelensky then specified what weapons Ukraine needs. "155-millimeters artillery, 152-millimeter artillery shells. "Grad", "Smerch", "Torando" or M142 HIMARS rocket launch systems. Personnel carrying armored vehicles. T-72 or similar tanks from the US or Germany, S-300, "BUK" or the western equivalent air defense systems.
"We must have military aircraft, to free our cities and save millions of Ukrainian and European lives," he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Joe Biden discussed additional defensive and financial aid for Kyiv as well as sanctions and alleged Russian war crimes, the Ukrainian president tweeted on Wednesday.
France will send more military capacities to Ukraine in addition to some 100 million euros of equipment already provided, Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Wednesday.
In a post on Twitter, Parly did not say what Paris would be sending.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took to Twitter asking partners of Ukraine to provide them with all the weapons they need in order to fight. Kuleba justified Ukraine's request by saying "We fight and stop Russia now so that partners don’t have to fight later."
Weapon transports in Ukraine - legitimate targets
Russia will view US and NATO vehicles transporting weapons on Ukrainian territory as legitimate military targets, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the TASS news agency in an interview on Wednesday.
Any attempts by the West to inflict significant damage on Russia's military or its separatist allies in Ukraine will be "harshly suppressed," he added.
"We are warning that US-NATO weapons transport across Ukrainian territory will be considered by us as legal military targets," TASS quoted Ryabkov as saying.
"We are making the Americans and other Westerners understand that attempts to slow down our special operation, to inflict maximum damage on Russian contingents and formations of the DPR and LPR (Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics) will be harshly suppressed," he said.
Ukrainian marines surrendered in Mariupol
A Russian border checkpoint in the Kursk region near the border of Ukraine has come under fire, regional authorities said on Wednesday.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov claimed on Wednesday that more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines had surrendered in the besieged port city of Mariupol and urged remaining forces holed up in the Azovstal steel mill to surrender.
Russia's defense ministry also claimed that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade surrendered in the city of Mariupol, according to TASS news agency.
There was no comment from Ukrainian officials on the statement made on Kadyrov's Telegram channel. Ukraine's General Staff, in its morning report on Wednesday, said that Russian forces were proceeding with attacks on Azovstal and the port.
"More than a thousand marines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered today in Mariupol. There are hundreds of wounded among them. This is the right choice," Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel.
The head of Chechnya said that at the moment about two hundred wounded are in the bowels of Azovstal, they cannot receive medical care. "It would be better for them and everyone else to end this senseless confrontation and return to their families," Kadyrov said.
Russian television showed pictures of what it said were marines giving themselves up at Illich Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol on Tuesday, many of them injured.
It was not clear what plant - Azovstal or Illich Iron and Steel Works - Kadyrov meant when he talked about the 1,000 surrendered Ukrainian marines.