Ukraine-Russia war latest: US warns Putin could use lethal new ballistic missile in ‘coming days’ against Kyiv
It comes Russian missile killed at least four people in Zaporizhzhia over night
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Your support makes all the difference.Russia could launch another hypersonic ballistic missile in Ukraine in the coming days, but Washington does not consider the Oreshnik weapon a game-changer in the war, a US official has said.
Russia first fired the Oreshnik missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on 21 November, in what President Vladimir Putin cast as a response to Ukraine’s first use of US ATACMs ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadows to strike Russian territory with Western permission.
“We assess that the Oreshnik is not a game-changer on the battlefield, but rather just another attempt by Russia to terrorize Ukraine, which will fail,” the official said.
Putin has claimed that the Oreshnik, or hazel tree, is impossible to intercept and that it has destructive power comparable to that of a nuclear weapon, even when fitted with a conventional warhead.
But the US official downplayed the usefulness of the missiles, calling them “experimental” in nature and said that “Russia likely possesses only a handful” of them.
There was no immediate response from Russia.
Pictures show Syrian diaspora raising opposition flags at embassy in Russia
Photos show members of the Syrian community in Moscow gathering outside the Syrian embassy on Monday to celebrate the toppling of former president Bashar al-Assad and to hoist the opposition flag over the building.
Assad and his family fled to Russia, where they received asylum from his longtime ally, after a lightning rebel advance ended his family’s 50 years of iron rule.
Russian missile strike kills three in Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, governor says
Three people were killed and 11 hurt in a Russian missile strike that destroyed a private clinic in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, the regional governor said.
Rescuers were searching for people trapped under the rubble, he said on the Telegram messenger. One person was in a severe condition, and two medics were among the injured,
Explosions heard in occupied Donetsk
Russian occupation officials announced evacuations in Yenakiieve city in the occupied Donetsk region as reports of explosions spread on social media.
Local Telegram channels speculated about a possible missile attack in footage they posted allegedly showing explosions in Yenakiieve .
Ukraine has not commented on the incident, and Russian authorities did not clarify the reasons for evacuation.
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