Ukraine-Russia war latest: US warns Putin could use lethal new ballistic missile in ‘coming days’ against Kyiv
Oreshnik missile is ‘just another attempt by Russia to terrorise Ukraine, which will fail’, says US official
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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.
US warns Russia may be ready to use new lethal missile against Ukraine again in 'coming days'
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Ukrainians have highest trust for Trump in Europe, survey suggests
Just over 44 per cent of Ukrainians trust US president-elect Donald Trump, around 10 points less than president Joe Biden, a survey by New Europe Center showed.
In comparison, a separate June poll by the Pew Research Center suggested that Hungaraians trusted Mr Trump the most at 37 percent, followed by Britain at 30 per cent and then France with 16 per cent of the population trusting him.
“This high level of support is likely due to the expectation of a clearer and more decisive policy towards Ukraine from the new US administration,” New Europe Center researchers said.
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
Ukraine’s military say the hottest fighting along the roughly 640-mile frontline is taking place along multiple points in Donetsk
70 per cent of Ukrainians support ‘West German’ model for Nato accession, survey shows
Just over 70 per cent of Ukrainians support gradual Nato accession akin to West Germany’s model, a survey by the Kyiv-based New Europe Center found.
This invitation would cover Ukraine, but the alliance’s defensive umbrella would only extend to occupied territories after liberation.
Different Nato accession pathways are gaining traction in both the West and Kyiv as Russia holds a military advantage on the battlefield and the prospect of liberating occupied territories militarily remains slim.
Russian gains in eastern Ukraine accelerate through the Autumn
Russian forces have increased the pace at which they are taking territory in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv’s troops struggle to hold back a much larger and more heavily armed military.
Along the 1,000 km frontline, Moscow has focused its attacks on towns and villages around the transport hub of Pokrovsk, the seizure of which could severely disrupt Ukraine’s ability to supply its forces.
Pasi Paroinen, an analyst from the Finland-based Black Bird Group, which studies footage and satellite images from the frontline, told Reuters that Russian gains in Ukraine had accelerated in recent months.
He estimated the following monthly territorial gains by Russia:
- August - 403 sq km
- September - 422 sq km
- October - 491 sq km
- 1-18 November - 363 sq km
In Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion in August, Kyiv now holds approximately 500 sq km of territory, Paroinen estimated, down from a maximum of around 1,200 sq km.
What Russia's invasion has cost Ukraine after more than 1,000 days of war
Devastating human and material losses continue to mount, leaving Ukraine more vulnerable than at any time since the early days of the war.
As of 31 August, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine had documented at least 11,743 civilians killed and 24,614 wounded in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian prosecutors have said 589 Ukrainian children had been killed by 15 November.
Western countries believe Russia has suffered far worse casualties than Ukraine, sometimes losing more than 1,000 soldiers killed per day during periods of intense fighting in the east.
But it is Ukraine, with around a third of Russia’s population, that is likely to be facing the more severe manpower shortages arising from battles of attrition.
Russia now occupies and claims to have annexed around a fifth of Ukraine, an area around the size of Greece.
The draft 2025 budget envisages that about 26% of Ukraine’s GDP, or 2.2 trillion hryvnias ($53.3 billion), would go on defence. Ukraine has already received more than $100 billion from its Western partners in financial aid.
What is ATACMS? The US missiles being used inside Russia
There are several variants of Army Tactical Missile Systems, a long-range missile system that often carries varying amounts of cluster bomblets.
Ukrainian forces used the US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time in October 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the weapons had “proven themselves.”
Ukraine likely has what are known as M39A1 Block IA ATACMS that are guided in part by Global Positioning System and have a range of 40 to 190 miles. They can carry a payload of 300 bomblets. The M39 Block IA were used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Army documents, and were added to the US arsenal in 1997.
What is Russia's 'Oreshnik' missile?
Vladimir Putin said Russia had struck Ukraine with a new hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile in response to Kyiv’s use of US and British missiles against Russia.
On 21 November, he said Russia had launched an “Oreshnik”, one of its newest intermediate-range missiles, at a defence enterprise in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Putin said it travelled at 10 times the speed of sound and could not be intercepted. It has a range of around 3,100 miles allowing Russia to strike most of Europe, according to experts.
It appears to have multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles: separate warheads able to hit different targets.
Anatoly Matviychuk, a Russian military expert, said it could carry six to eight conventional or nuclear warheads, and was probably already in service.
Full report: US warns Russia may be ready to use new lethal missile against Ukraine again in 'coming days'
US warns Russia may be ready to use new lethal missile against Ukraine again in 'coming days'
A U_S_ intelligence assessment has concluded that Russia may use its lethal new intermediate-range ballistic missile against Ukraine again in “coming days.”
Zelensky criticises Orban for discussing war in phone call with Putin
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss Ukraine.
“No one should boost personal image at the expense of unity... There can be no discussions about the war that Russia wages against Ukraine without Ukraine,” he said on X.
The Kremlin said earlier on Wednesday that Putin had told Orban in a phone call that Kyiv’s policy continued to exclude the possibility of a peaceful settlement of the conflict. It did not say when the call took place.
Russia says Ukraine fired US-supplied ATACMS missiles at airfield and vows revenge
Russia’s Defence Ministry said that Ukraine had attacked a military airfield in the southern Russian city of Taganrog with six US-supplied ATACMS missiles and promised retaliation.
The ministry said in a statement that all six missiles had been shot down or intercepted, but that falling missile debris had caused injuries among some personnel.
“There was no damage, two buildings on the technical territory of the airfield and three military vehicles, as well as civilian cars in the parking lot adjacent to the airfield were slightly damaged (by shrapnel),” the ministry said.
“This attack by Western long-range weapons will not go unanswered and appropriate measures will be taken,” it said.
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