Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin launches hundreds of deadly glide bombs as Kyiv calls for better air defence
Zelensky said Ukraine was not a ‘testing ground for weapons’ and called for improved air defence
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Your support makes all the difference.Russia has launched hundreds of deadly glide bombs at Ukraine over the last week as Volodymyr Zelensky called for better air defences to fend off aerial attacks.
Zelensky said Russia has fired 800 KAB aerial-guided bombs - winged explosives weighing up to 1,500kg - at Ukraine over the last week.
The KAB – the Ukrainian acronym for guided aerial bomb, are old-fashioned “iron” aerial bombs of the sort that were dropped by bombers during the Second World War and are particularly destructive.
In response, Zelensky said Ukraine needed to improve its air defences to help fend off almost daily aerial attacks launched by Russia.
“Ukraine is not a testing ground for weapons. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state. But Russia still continues its efforts to kill our people, spread fear and panic, and weaken us,” he said.
Last week, Russia fired an intermediate-range “Oreshnik” ballistic missile at Dnipro, central Ukraine, in response to Kyiv’s use of Western-supplied long-range missiles.
“There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system,” Mr Putin warned.
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More than 900 miles from London, frenetic activity is underway in the countryside of Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States: bulldozers and diggers are constructing field defences. Anti-tank ditches, tank traps, and pillboxes are being built and installed. In all these countries, laying minefields – even controversial anti-personnel minefields – is under active consideration.
Poland is spending at least €2.5bn (£2.1bn) on its border defence system, including building a sky shield system akin to Israel’s “Iron Dome” to protect its eastern border from a growing threat from Russia.
Meanwhile, in response to the “hybrid war” tactics on several Baltic fronts, hundreds of millions of euros are being invested by the Baltic states to strengthen their defence lines with another major project, planned by Nato members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, set to begin in 2025.
And what is the UK’s response to an increasing global threat? The country is scrapping £500m worth of military equipment – ships, drones, and helicopters – and will conduct a strategic defence review to decide what to do next.
Francis Tusa has more analysis here:
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Senior North Korean general wounded in Ukrainian strike on Kursk, Western officials say
A senior North Korean general has been wounded in a Ukrainian strike in Russia’s Kursk region, Western officials have told the Wall Street Journal.
Washington has previously warned that the 10,000 North Korean troops reportedly deployed in Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces staged an incursion in August, could be targeted by Russian forces. But the fresh claims mark the first time Western officials have said that a North Korean military officer has become a casualty.
The officials did not disclose the identity of the senior North Korean officer or how he was wounded, the outlet reports.
Trump’s ‘favoured Ukraine envoy’ says Medvedev’s World War 3 warning ‘not getting enough coverage'
Former US-Germany ambassador Richard Grenell, who Reuters reports is Donald Trump’s favoured pick for a new Ukraine war envoy post, has warned that the US media is not giving enough coverage to former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s claims over the prospect of World War 3.
In an insight into Mr Grenell’s thinking on the war, as reports suggest he could be tasked with playing a major role in Mr Trump’s efforts to bring the conflict to a rapid pause, he has appeared critical of outgoing US president Joe Biden’s authorisation of allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with US missiles.
In one post on X, he said: “Joe Biden authorizes Ukraine to launch missiles inside Russia - and then orders an evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev. Infuriating. Biden can’t even pick up the phone to speak to Putin.”
In another post, Mr Grenell shared a claim by Mr Medvedev, in which the Russian hawk said: “Russia’s new nuclear doctrine means Nato missiles fired against our country could be deemed an attack by the bloc on Russia. Russia could retaliate with WMD against Kiev and key Nato facilities, wherever they’re located. That means World War III.”
Mr Grenell wrote: “This isn’t getting enough media coverage in America.”
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