Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin threatens to target Kyiv with new missile after energy grid attack
Russia’s second big attack on Ukraine’s energy system this month left 1 million without power
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Your support makes all the difference.Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike “decision-making centres” in Kyiv with Moscow’s new intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Putin boasted Moscow’s production of advanced missile systems exceeds that of the NATO military alliance by 10 times, as he vowed to respond to the use of Western missiles by Ukraine.
Russian attacks have not so far struck government buildings in the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv is heavily protected by air defences, but Putin says Russia’s Oreshnik hypersonic missile is incapable of being intercepted.
“At present, the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory,” Putin told the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Kazakhstan.
“These could be military facilities, defence and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centres in Kyiv.”
It comes as Russia’s “massive” aerial attack on energy infrastructure across Ukraine left at least one million people without power.
In Russia’s second big attack on Ukraine’s energy grid this month, damage to the energy and other critical infrastructure was reported by officials across the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia used cruise missiles with cluster munitions in Thursday’s attack, calling it a “vile escalation”.
Republican claims Biden could be trying to start nuclear war to sabotage Trump
US Republican politician Marjorie Taylor Greene has baselessly suggested that outgoing president Joe Biden may be trying to start a nuclear war in Europe before he leaves office in order to sabotage Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
The Georgia populist, who is never short of a wild conspiracy theory, took to X on Monday to respond to a thinly-sourced post by conservative influencer Mario Nawfal on the Russia-Ukraine war that read: “WTF: U.S WANTS TO ARM UKRAINE WITH NUKES BEFORE BIDEN LEAVES?!
However, there is no evidence at all to suggest he is seeking to escalate the war for domestic political gain or has any intention of returning nuclear weapons to the former Soviet satellite state for the first time in three decades – a move that Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev has warned would invite a direct retaliation from Moscow.
My colleague Joe Sommerlad reports:
Marjorie Taylor Greene suggests Biden ‘trying to start a nuclear war’ to thwart Trump
MAGA Republican baselessly claimed the president is seeking to sabotage his successor’s incoming administration by dramatically escalating conflict in Europe
Slovakia’s Fico and Trump discuss Ukraine war
Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico has held a phone call with Donald Trump in which he and the US president-elect’s discussions focused mainly on the war in Ukraine, the Slovakian government has said.
After taking office more than a year ago, Fico’s leftist-nationalist government immediately halted military supplies to Kyiv, while allowing commercial sales to continue, and it has argued that weapons deliveries are prolonging the war there.
Mr Fico’s stance, which echoes that of Hungary’s Viktor Orban – viewed as the European Union leader closest to Mr Putin – contrasts with the official position of the EU, which has mostly looked to isolate Moscow.
The Slovakian leader drew criticism from the country’s opposition last month when he appeared in an interview on Russia’s state-run Rossiya-1 television channel, in which he criticised the EU’s approach to the Ukraine war.
Slovakia’s Fico to attend Victory Day commemoration in Moscow
Slovakian premier Robert Fico has said he has accepted an invitation from Vladimir Putin to attend Second World War commemorations in Moscow in May.
Just two other EU leaders – Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Austria’s Karl Nehammer – have visited Mr Putin since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr Fico, a leftist whose government has sought to improve relations with Russia, has spoken before about wanting to attend events in Moscow next year.
He said: “It is natural that as prime minister of the Republic of Slovakia I have an eminent interest in participating in the official celebrations of the victory over fascism, which will take place on May 9, 2025, in Moscow.
“I was therefore pleased to accept the official invitation of the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin to participate in these important celebrations, which I will do.”
Romanian far-right presidential candidate insists he does not want to leave Nato or EU
The surprise far-right winner of the first round of Romania’s presidential election has denied that he wants to leave Nato and the European Union, appearing to roll back some of his positions amid protests over his victory.
Having polled in single digits prior to the first round of Romania’s elections on Sunday, the 62-year-old independent candidate Calin Georgescu surged to a shock victory with 22.9 per cent of the vote, lining him up to face centrist contender Elena Lasconi in a run-off on 8 December.
Mr Georgescu has previously praised 1930s Romanian fascist politicians as national heroes and martyrs, has been critical of Nato and Romania’s pro-Ukraine position, and has said the country should engage, not challenge Russia.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Bucharest on Tuesday evening, chanting: “No Putin, no fear, Europe is our mother,” and “young people ask you not to vote for a dictator”, with demonstrations also held in other major cities.
But in a stream on Facebook on Tuesday evening, he said: “I do not want to leave Nato, I do not want to leave the European Union. What I want, however, is to take a stance, not to kneel over there, not to take everything. Like I said, we should do everything in our national interest.”
Ukraine’s front lines ‘will collapse’ if Trump starves Kyiv of aid, Kuleba warns
Ukraine’s front lines “will collapse” if Donald Trump halts military aid for Ukraine, Kyiv’s former foreign minister has warned – as he criticised a lack of Western support for Kyiv in comparison with North Korea’s intensified backing of Russia.
“The front line in the Donbas will collapse and the Russians will be at the gates of Dnipro, Poltava and Zaporizhzhia,” Dmytro Kuleba told Politico. “That will be the most dangerous moment for Ukraine in this war.”
“People in Europe can be pissed off with me, but I kept saying, and I will keep saying, that the truth is today Russia has a friend ready to send its soldiers to die for Russia[’s] war,” he said, whereas Ukraine’s friends are hesitant even to send it the weapons it needs.
Poland’s Tusk to urge ‘navy policing’ in Baltic Sea
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said that he will urge Baltic and Nordic countries to take joint action regarding the security of Baltic Sea waters, during a two-day trip to Sweden.
In the face of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, Nato countries are taking joint action to protect themselves, including joint control of airspace over the Baltic countries within the framework of so-called “air policing”.
“I will convince our partners of the need to immediately create an analogous formula when it comes to the control and security of the Baltic waters, to ‘navy policing’, a joint undertaking of the countries that lie on the Baltic Sea and that have the same sense of threat when it comes to Russia,” Mr Tusk said.
Mr Tusk will take part in a meeting of the prime ministers of the Baltic and Nordic countries on Wednesday and Thursday, and will meet with Swedish premier Ulf Kristersson. The talks will cover transatlantic relations, regional cooperation on security and a common policy towards the Ukraine war.
Putin ‘won’t accept Trump peace deal’ as he is ‘obsessed’ with crushing Ukraine, ex-Kyiv minister says
Ukraine’s former foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has warned that Vladimir Putin will not accept a peace deal brokered by US president-elect Donald Trump, because the Russian president is “obsessed” with “crushing” Ukraine and exposing the weakness of the West.
Speaking to Politico, Mr Kuleba – who resigned in September – warned that Mr Trump instead risked collapsing Ukraine’s front lines if his administration decides to starve Kyiv of military aid.
Mr Kuleba said: “Putin still believes he can snuff out Ukrainian statehood and crush Ukraine as an independent democracy, and he thinks he’s one step away from exposing the West as weak.
“Ukraine is a personal obsession for Putin, but crushing Ukraine is also a means to accomplish his grand goal – to show to the world how the West is incapable of defending itself or what it stands for.”
Footage appears to show Russia's ICBM launch hitting Ukraine
South Koreans remain opposed to sending arms to Ukraine, polls suggest
South Koreans remain widely opposed to directly supplying arms to Ukraine, polls suggest – despite renewed international requests from Kyiv after North Korean troops were deployed to Russia.
A Ukrainian delegation led by defence minister Rustem Umerov were set to meet South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol – who is suffering record low approval ratings due to domestic scandals – as early as Wednesday, amid media reports that their visit aimed to seek arms support.
“No to the South Korean government planning arms supply to Ukraine,” read a banner held by a small group of protesters outside the presidential office in Seoul.
Most South Koreans viewed growing military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow as a threat, a Gallup Korea poll showed in October, but nevertheless 82 per cent opposed sending military aid, including arms.
“To the South Korean government, there will be fewer benefits for continuing to support (military aid) when there is little domestic support and the relationship with the next US government could deteriorate,” Yang Uk, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told Reuters.
Mr Yoon’s low approval ratings, along with little public backing for supply of weapons, are burdens sapping his mandate on foreign policy, he added.
Georgian ruling party nominates hardline ex-soccer player for president
Georgia’s ruling party has nominated Mikheil Kavelashvili, a fierce critic of the West who briefly played football for Manchester City in the 1990s, as its candidate for president ahead of next month’s election.
Mr Kavelashvili is a founder member of People’s Power, a splinter group of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and has a record of hardline, anti-Western statements, in September describing the opposition as a “fifth column” who were trying to undermine peace in Georgia at the instruction US officials.
In June, he accused US congressmen of planning for “a direct violent revolution, a plan for the Ukrainisation of Georgia, and an insatiable desire to destroy our country”.
His election is all but assured, as Georgian Dream dominates the electoral college of members of parliament and local government representatives. He is set to succeed President Salome Zourabichvili, who was elected as an ally of the governing bloc, but has become a trenchant critic, accusing it of deliberately derailing Georgia’s EU accession hopes.
Although the president’s post is largely ceremonial, the choice of Mr Kavelashvili is likely to be viewed by the European Union and the United States as a further sign that Georgia is turning away from the West and moving closer to Russia.
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