Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin vows to launch more missiles as Poland warns threat of global war is real
Russian president says Moscow has stockpile of such systems ready to use
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Vladimir Putin has vowed to launch more strikes using an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile (IBRM) like that fired at Ukraine on Thursday, insisting Moscow had a stockpile of them.
The Russian president said production of the Oreshnik was being launched, adding: “No one in the world has such weapons.”
Testing the hypersonic missile would continue, he said, “including in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia”. There is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use”, he added.
The missile is so powerful, Putin claimed, that the use of several fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with strategic — nuclear — weapons.
Meanwhile, Poland’s prime minister warned of a real risk of a global conflict breaking out.
Donald Tusk said the war was taking on “dramatic proportions”.
Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday.
Putin said the strike was in retaliation for Ukraine’s using Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike military targets inside Russian territory.
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
Orshenik: All you need to know about Putin’s new missile
Vladimir Putin announced the Kremlin fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile named “Orshenik” at Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use this week of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia.
Orshenik, Russian for hazelnut tree, he said flies at ten times the speed of sound and the US air defence systems will be powerless to stop the new missiles.
Mr Putin said it could be used to attack any Ukrainian ally whose missiles are used to attack Russia. The Russian leader said he will issue advance warnings if Moscow launches more strikes with the Oreshnik against Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate to safety — something Moscow hasn’t done before previous aerial attacks.
Two lions from wartorn Ukraine arrive at their new home
Two lionesses which were rescued from a conflict zone in Ukraine have arrived at their new home in Scotland.
Luna and Plusza, both aged four, arrived at the Five Sisters Zoo, West Calder, West Lothian, on Wednesday night.
The lionesses were rescued from an area affected by heavy shelling in eastern Ukraine in 2022, before being moved through Kyiv, Poland, and Belgium to reach the safety of Scotland.
Lions rescued from war zone in Ukraine arrive at their new home in Scotland
Luna and Plusza continue Five Sisters Zoo’s history of providing homes for lions rescued from difficult circumstances.
North Korean leader says past diplomacy only confirmed US hostility
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his past negotiations with the United States only confirmed Washington’s “unchangeable” hostility toward Pyongyang and described his nuclear buildup as the only way to counter external threats, state media said Friday.
Mr Kim spoke on Thursday at a defence exhibition where North Korea displayed some of its most powerful weapons systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the US mainland, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said. While meeting with army officers last week, he had pledged a “limitless” expansion of his military nuclear program.
Kim Jong-un says past negotiations with US confirmed ‘unchangeable’ hostility
North Korea’s leader pledges to build ‘strongest defence’ against external threats
Zelensky says Putin escalating war with ‘deranged ambitions’
Volodymyr Zelensky said Vladimir Putin is escalating the war, testing Ukraine’s partners and contradicting peace efforts by China, Brazil, the US and European allies. The Ukrainian leader said Mr Putin “must feel the cost of his deranged ambitions” and forced into real peace.
“Today, Putin admitted to taking a second step this year toward escalating and expanding this war. A new ballistic missile was used. Putin struck our city of Dnipro, one of Ukraine’s largest cities,” Mr Zelensky said, calling it “a clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war”
“Let me emphasise: this is already Russia’s second step toward escalation this year. The first was involving North Korea in the war against Ukraine with a contingent of at least 11,000 soldiers,” he said.
“Putin has taken both of these steps while ignoring everyone in the world who is calling for no further expansion of the war. He disregards calls from China, Brazil, European countries, the United States, and others. Putin alone started this war—an entirely unprovoked war—and he is doing everything to prolong it, now for over a thousand days,” he said in post on X.
Putin said he fired a new missile Oreshnik yesterday which struck a well-known missile factory in Dnipro. He also said Russia would issue advance warnings if it launches more strikes with the Oreshnik against Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate to safety — something Moscow hasn’t done before previous aerial attacks.
North Korean general injured in Ukraine’s British Storm Shadow missile attack – WSJ
A high-ranking North Korean General is reportedly injured in a recent Ukrainian strike in Russia’s Kursk region, Western officials said yesterday.
This is the first casualty of a senior North Korean military officer in the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to the Western officials, reported The Wall Street Journal. Ukraine launched at least 10 British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Kursk on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian and Western officials.
It is not immediately clear how the senior North Korean officer was wounded or his identity.
The US had declared that the North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine will become “fair game and fair targets for the Ukrainians” in October, John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council had said last month after the troubling intelligence confirmed Pyongyang was sending its troops to fight in the war.
ICYMI: Germany says sabotage behind cutting of telecoms cables in the Baltic Sea
The damage of two undersea internet cables in the Baltic sea must be seen as an act of sabotage, German defence minister Boris Pistorius has said.
A pair of fibre-optic communications cables were severed on Sunday and Monday, in an incident which “immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage”, Finland and Germany said in a joint statement.
A 745-mile (1,200 kilometre) cable linking Helsinki to the German port of Rostock stopped working at 2am on Monday, according to Finnish state-controlled cyber security and telecoms company Cinia.
Another cable linking Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland Island went out of service at 8am on Monday, according to a Lithuanian communications firm.
My colleague Alex Croft has the full report:
Germany says sabotage behind cutting of telecoms cables in Baltic Sea
Two cables were cut, which connect Germany to Finland and Lithuania to Sweden
Pentagon confirms new Russian missile used in attacking Ukraine
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that Russia’s missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate range missile based on it’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. “This was new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield, so that was certainly of concern,” Ms Singh said, noting that the missile could carry either conventional or nuclear warheads. The UD was notified ahead of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels, she said.
The Kremlin fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine yesterday in response to Kyiv’s use this week of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia, president Vladimir Putin said.
UK-trained elite commandos approached to fight for Russia against Ukraine
For Ghulam, it began with a form handed to him by a colleague, offering him a way out. For more than 12 years, he had been part of an elite troop of Afghan special forces set up, trained and paid by the British government.
Now, after being forced to flee the Taliban and leave his homeland for Iran, he worked long days in a recycling factory and had to evade police because of his undocumented status.
The fellow Afghan who gave Ghulam the form knew of his military background and thought he might be open to an offer. For some in Ghulam’s situation, a form comes first; for others, it’s contact by phone from other Afghan veterans.
Some have been approached face to face. However it’s done, and whatever the terms, the offer to these elite UK-trained commandos is broadly the same: come to fight for Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces against Ukraine.
UK-trained elite commandos approached to fight for Russia against Ukraine
Investigation: The UK trained and paid special forces to fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. As hundreds of these fighters live in danger while Britain delays decisions on whether to give them sanctuary, the UK’s adversaries are circling. Holly Bancroft, Fahim Abed, May Bulman and Jessica Purkiss report
Slovakia analysing US sanctions against Gazprombank, economy ministry says
Slovakia’s Economy Ministry is analysing new U.S. sanctions against Gazprombank and will know their potential impact on Slovakia soon, the ministry said on Thursday.
Slovakia’s state-owned gas buyer SPP has a long-term contract with Gazprom and continues to buy Russian gas.
Storm Shadows undermine Putin’s narrative that Russia and NATO are at war
Analysts and observers say that the loosening of restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western missiles is unlikely to change the the course of the war, but it puts the Russian army in a more vulnerable position and could complicate the logistics that are crucial in warfare.
“It is an important move and it pulls against, undermines the narrative that Putin had been trying to establish that it was fine for Russia to rain down Iranian drones and North Korean missiles on Ukraine but a reckless escalation for Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons at legitimate targets in Russia,” said Peter Ricketts, a former UK national security adviser who now sits in the House of Lords.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments