Britain's public broadcaster BBC on Saturday quoted French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot as saying in an interview that Ukraine could fire French long-range missiles into Russia in "self-defense."

But the BBC said Barrot would not confirm whether French weapons had already been used.

This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country launched a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile into eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

He said the move was in retaliation for attacks on Russia's territory that were carried out with longer-range missiles provided by the US and Britain.

France has supplied Ukraine with SCALP cruise missiles, which have a range of over 250 kilometers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented Saturday on the situation in the Kursk region of western Russia, where Ukraine's military has been conducting cross-border attacks.

Zelenskyy expressed the view that Putin is trying to create a situation favorable for Russia before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in January.

Zelenskyy said that the most important thing for Putin is to push Ukrainian troops out of the Kursk region.

He added that he is sure Putin wants to make that happen by January 20.