Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin firing new ballistic missile makes threat of global war real, Poland warns
Zelensky urged worldwide condemnation and said the attack was proof Russia has ‘no interest in peace’
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Your support makes all the difference.There is a real risk of a global conflict breaking out after Vladimir Putin launched a nuclear-capable ballistic missile at Ukraine, Poland’s prime minister warned.
Donald Tusk said the war was taking on “dramatic proportions” with the threat of global conflict “serious and real”.
It comes after Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IBRM) at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday.
The IBRM - based on the design of Russia’s longer-range RS-26 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)- was fired from Russia’s Astrakhan region, on the Caspian Sea, Ukraine’s air force said.
“The war in the east is entering a decisive phase, we feel that the unknown is approaching,” Mr Tusk said on Friday.
“The conflict is taking on dramatic proportions. The last few dozen hours have shown that the threat is serious and real when it comes to global conflict.”
Russian president Vladimir Putin said the strike was in retaliation to Ukraine using Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory.
He warned that Western military sites in European countries used for missile production would be a legitimate target for Russian forces.
Putin says Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine
Jeremy Kyle cuts off caller who ‘defends’ Putin in heated live interview clash
Russia spokesperson takes phone call during presser telling her not to comment on missile strike
What is the Storm Shadow cruise missile? Ukraine hits Russia with British weapon for first time
Putin says Ukraine war is going global
Ukraine war was escalating towards a global conflict after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to hit Russia with their weapons, Vladimir Putin said yesterday in his address as he warned the West that Moscow could strike back.
Russia, Mr Putin said, had responded to the use of US and British missiles by firing a new kind of hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile at a Ukrainian military facility. More could follow, Mr Putin warned. He said civilians would be warned ahead of further strikes with such weapons.
The United States, he said, was pushing the world towards a global conflict.
'Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow missiles will not turn war’
The West relaxing restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons may boost Kyiv but will likely do little to transform the battlefield situation, analysts said, despite the dire nature of the Kremlin’s rhetorical reaction.
“At this stage in the war, the risk of Russian nuclear use is lower than before. Political and battlefield developments favour Russia, so there is little to gain by escalating the conflict to the nuclear level,” said Alexander Bollfrass, head of strategy, technology and arms control at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.
He also pointed to the diplomatic drawbacks.
“Nuclear weapons use would risk alienating China and other non-Western countries whose support or neutrality is key to maintaining the Russian war economy,” Bollfrass told NBC News in an email Wednesday. “It would also get the relationship with the incoming Trump administration off to a very dangerous start.”
Putin says Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has claimed Moscow launched a new hypersonic ballistic missile against Ukraine in response to strikes by Kyiv inside Russia using UK and US long-range missiles.
The Russian leader said the Oreshnik, or Hazel, medium-range missile had been used in some of its latest strikes. Earlier, Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in an attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro – the first recorded use of the weapon during the war.
Ukrainian air defence forces said the missile – which has a range of more than 3,400 miles and can be used to carry nuclear warheads – was fired from Russia’s Astrakhan region, on the Caspian Sea. However, American officials said an initial US assessment indicated the strike was carried out with an intermediate-range ballistic missile which cannot travel so far, something backed by Putin’s remarks.
Alex Croft reports:
Putin says Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine
It comes after Russian foreign ministry says a United States anti-missile base in Poland is now ‘a priority target’
Jeremy Kyle cuts off caller who ‘defends’ Putin in heated live interview clash
Jeremy Kyle cuts off caller who ‘defends’ Putin in heated live interview clash
Jeremy Kyle cut off a caller who appeared to defend Russian President Vladimir Putin during a heated clash live on air. The TalkTV host took a call from a man named Robert from Nottingham on his show on Wednesday (20 November). Robert expressed his views on the Russia and Ukraine conflict claiming the UK “should not have any involvement with the war whatsoever”, saying Russia “holds no threat to me on mainland Britain”. Kyle asked the caller: “Do you consider Putin a danger to the world?” Robert responded: “No, I don’t.” An angry Kyle then told him: “Why don’t you go live in Russia then? Go on, get off.”
Britain now directly involved in Ukraine war, Russian ambassador says
The UK and Britain are now “directly involved” in the Ukraine war as party after its Storm Shadow missiles used to strike targets inside Russia have dragged it in the conflict, Moscow’s ambassador has warned.
“Absolutely, Britain and UK is now directly involved in this war, because this firing cannot happen without Nato staff, British staff as well,” ambassador Anrei Kelin told Sky News.
“The US administration, support by France and the UK, has made a deliberate decision to make these strikes, which seriously escalates the situation, and it can bring a collision between the nuclear powers,” he said.
The Russian diplomat also called it “deliberate cheating of us”, claiming he was told that the British missiles would only be used inside Ukraine territory.
UN chief calls for de-escalation in Ukraine war after Putin fires new missile
The United Nations chief has called on all parties in the Ukraine war to de-escalate the conflict after Russian president Vladimir Putin fired a new missile in Dnipro.
Russia’s use of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile was “yet another concerning and worrying development,” UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres’s spokesperson said.
“All of this [is] going in the wrong direction,” his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said as he called on all parties to de-escalate the conflict and “to protect civilians, not hit civilian targets or critical civilian infrastructure”.
Nato says Putin’s new missile won’t deter West’s support for Kyiv
Russia is seeking to “terrorise” civilians and intimidate Ukraine’s allies with its new missile, Nato spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said .
“Deploying this capability will neither change the course of the conflict nor deter Nato allies from supporting Ukraine,” Ms Dakhlallah said.
UK signs security pact with Moldova
The UK has signed a new security and defence partnership agreement with Moldova, as Ukraine’s western neighbour anxiously eyes Russia’s nearby invasion and accuses Moscow of meddling in its elections.
Pro-European president Maia Sandu won re-election last month, but by a smaller margin than expected, as a tiny margin of Moldovan voters backed a referendum to alter the constitution to include provisions on integration with the European Union, presented by premier Dorin Recean on Wednesday.
A UK government statement said the security partnership was aimed at “building on extensive cooperation between the two countries and strengthening Moldovan resilience against external threats”. Foreign secretary David Lammy said: “With Ukraine next door, Moldovans are constantly reminded of Russia’s oppression, imperialism and aggression.”
The deal included £2m to bolster Moldova’s protection against cyberattacks and a £5m grant to improve health services for refugees, as well as an agreement to ensure the return to Moldova of its nationals illegally staying in Britain.
Ukrainian parliament postpones sitting today over security risk
Ukraine’s parliament has postponed a sitting due to have taken place today out of security concerns, public broadcaster Suspilne reported last night, quoting sources.
“On 22 November, plans called for a session of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), which included questions to the government, but this was cancelled for reasons of potential security issues,” Suspilne said.
It said the order told members to keep their families out of Kyiv’s government district and quoted parliamentarians as saying that, for the moment, the next sitting was not scheduled until December.
The postponement occurred after Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said Russia had struck the central city of Dnipro with a new medium-range hypersonic missile in response to Ukrainian use of Western missiles on targets in Russia.
Mr Putin suggested more could follow “in case of escalation of aggressive actions”.
Military experts decode Putin’s new missile Orshenik: ‘Taunting his enemy’
Russia was sending a message by attacking Ukraine with an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of releasing multiple warheads at extremely high speeds, even if they are less accurate than cruise missiles or short-range ballistic missiles, said Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.
“Why might you use it therefore?” Mr Savill said. “Signaling — signaling to the Ukrainians. We’ve got stuff that outrages you. But really signaling to the West ‘We’re happy to enter into a competition around intermediate range ballistic missiles. P.S.: These could be nuclear tipped. Do you really want to take that risk?’”
Military experts say that modern inter-continental ballistic missiles and intermediate-range ballistic missiles are extremely difficult to intercept, although Ukraine has previously claimed to have stopped some other weapons that Russia described as “unstoppable,” including the air-launched Kinzhal hypersonic missile.
David Albright, of the Washington-based think tank the Institute for Science and International Security, said he was “skeptical” of Mr Putin’s claim, adding that Russian technology sometimes “falls short.”
He suggested Mr Putin was “taunting the West to try to shoot it down... like a braggart boasting, taunting his enemy.”
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