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”.
Ukraine should lower fighting age to 18 against Russia, says US
Ukraine should consider lowering the age of military service for its soldiers to 18 from 25, a senior US administration official said.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said Ukraine was not mobilising or training enough new soldiers to replace those lost on the battlefield, according to Reuters. “The need right now is manpower,” he said.
“The Russians are in fact making progress, steady progress, in the east, and they are beginning to push back Ukrainian lines in Kursk... Mobilisation and more manpower could make a significant difference at this time as we look at the battlefield today.”
However, a source in president Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said the country did not have what it needed to equip the troops it was mobilising now.
“Right now, with our current mobilisation efforts, we don’t have enough equipment, for example armoured vehicles, to support all the troops we are calling up,” the source said. “We cannot compensate for our partners’ delays in decision-making and supply chains with the lives of our soldiers and of the youngest of our guys.”
Kremlin aide says he doesn’t know of any contacts yet with Trump’s team
A senior Kremlin aide said on Tuesday he was not aware of any contacts yet between President Vladimir Putin's office and the team of US president-elect Donald Trump.
Putin has publicly congratulated Trump on defeating Kamala Harris in this month's election and has said he is willing to talk to him. Trump told NBC on 7 November he had not spoke with Putin since his election victory but "I think we'll speak".
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters: "There are no contacts going on with Trump's team yet, as far as I know."
Trump said repeatedly during his election campaign that he could bring a swift end to the Ukraine war, but without saying how. Putin said on 7 November that what Trump had said "deserves attention, at least".
Biden readies $725m arms aid package for Ukraine
The Biden administration is preparing a $725m weapons package for Ukraine, two US officials told Reuters yesterday, as the outgoing president seeks to bolster the government in Kyiv before leaving office in January.
According to an official familiar with the plan, the Biden administration plans to provide a variety of anti-tank weapons from US stocks to blunt Russia’s advancing troops, including land mines, drones, Stinger missiles and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
Ukrainian drones hit Krasnodar in Russia in overnight attack
Ukrainian drones attacked two districts of Russia’s southern region of Krasnodar in the early hours of Thursday, its governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram.
At least one person has been wounded by the debris from a downed drone, he said.
Russia wants a long-term peace in Ukraine, Putin's spy chief says
Russia opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because Moscow needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis, President Vladimir Putin's foreign intelligence chief has claimed.
Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said that Russia had the initiative on the battlefield.
Naryshkin said Russia was categorically opposed to the "freezing of the conflict", adding that Russia wanted a long-term peace. Russia is open for talks, Naryshkin said.
Ukraine faces difficult winter
Ukraine faces a difficult winter, with worries about the reliability of the electricity supply amid Russia’s attacks and how much US support it can count on next year after President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
Russia has been hammering civilian areas of Ukraine with increasingly heavy drone, missile and glide bomb attacks since the middle of the year.
At the same time, Russia's army has largely held the battlefield initiative for the past year and has been pushing hard in the eastern Donetsk region where it is making significant tactical advances, according to Western military analysts.
Father of ex-British soldier captured by Russia fears son will be tortured after fighting for Ukraine
Father of former British soldier captured by Russia fears son will be tortured
Father says he tried to stop his son James Scott Rhys Anderson from joining the Ukrainian forces
‘You cannot approve ICC when it goes against Putin and oppose it when it goes against Netanyahu,’ says Borrell
Josep Borrell has said “you cannot approve the court when it goes against Putin and oppose it when it goes against Netanyahu”, referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The comments from the Vice President of the EU Commission comes after some countries rejected the court’s warrant for the Israeli prime minister’s arrest.
Watch: Ukrainian boxer Klitschko accuses Joe Rogan of pushing Russian propaganda
Nato backs Ukraine after Russian ballistic missile launch
Nato members reaffirmed their support for Ukraine during talks with the country’s officials yesterday, held in response to Russia’s launch of an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile.
“The chief of the defence intelligence of Ukraine and acting commander of the air force joined the meeting online and briefed the allies on the details of the attack and its possible consequences,” Nataliia Galibarenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Nato, said in a statement.
Ambassadors representing Nato’s 32 member countries were briefed by senior Ukrainian officials after Kyiv called a meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council, a forum for cooperation.
“They emphasised to the partners that this outrageous attack was a blatant demonstration of force by Russia and a fruitless attempt to intimidate the allies,” she added.
Vladimir Putin said Moscow struck a Ukrainian military facility with a new intermediate-range, hypersonic ballistic missile in response to the US and UK’s allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons.
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