Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow vows to fire more ballistic missiles as Putin hints at striking West
Putin vowed to launch more intermediate-range ballistic missiles targeting Ukraine
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.Moscow has vowed to continue testing experimental hypersonic missiles as Vladimir Putin threatened to strike the West in a coded message.
Putin warned that Russia would continue to carry out tests of the “Oreshnik” intermediate-range ballistic missiles in “combat conditions” following a devastating strike on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
“We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation,” the Russian leader said.
He added that Thursday’s attack was a direct response to Ukrainian forces striking Russia with US and British long-range missiles - something Moscow sees as an escalation of the conflict.
“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” he said on Friday.
He claimed the new missile could be fitted with several conventional warheads and could be as devastating as strategic nuclear weapons.
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.
Despite the Kremlin’s rhetoric, Russian officials notified the United States about Thursday’s attack 30 minutes before launching the missile.
Putin vows more ballistic missile strikes
Vladimir Putin has vowed to launch more strikes using an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile.
The Russian president disputed US claims that his country possessed only a few of the high-speed ballistic missiles, saying that the military had enough to continue to test them in “combat conditions”.
None the less, he said Moscow would ramp up production of the new “unstoppable” hypersonic ballistic missile it fired at Ukraine on Thursday.
He told a defence conference on Friday tests of the missile system had been passed, adding: “As has been said already, we’ll be continuing these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and nature of threats being posed to Russia’s security, especially considering that we have enough of such items, such systems ready for use in stock.”
Elite’ Russian units becoming ‘obsolete’ in Ukraine war
Russian units fighting in Ukraine which were previously considered “elite” are now becoming “increasingly obsolete” as a result of Russia’s strategy of throwing waves of troops into battle that has turned the frontline into a “meat grinder”, a leading war monitor has said.
Army formations which once carried out specialised tactical tasks in their assault on Ukrainians are now “understrength”, and reliant on infantry-led assaults which fail to deploy any “unique tactics”, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.
Once considered “elite”, the units are “now essentially functioning as understrength motorised rifle units, relying on infantry-led frontal assaults to make tactical gains as opposed to employing any sort of doctrinally unique tactics,” the US-based think tank said in an update on Thursday.
Once ‘elite’ Russian units becoming ‘obsolete’ due to Putin’s war strategy in Ukraine
On Thursday, Russia used a new ballistic missile in Ukraine
UK Foreign Secretary vows to ‘do everything that is necessary’ to help Ukraine
The Foreign Secretary has vowed to continue to “do everything that is necessary” to help Ukraine combat Russia after Vladimir Putin threatened strikes on the UK.
The Russian president used a new ballistic missile against Ukraine on Thursday, with Mr Putin claiming the use of the weapon was in response to the UK and US allowing missiles they have supplied to Ukraine to be used to strike targets in Russia.
“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” he said.
Read the full report here:
Foreign Secretary vows to ‘do everything that is necessary’ to help Ukraine
The head of the UK’s armed forces, Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, met Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv to discuss the war on Thursday.
Nato and Kyiv to meet next week
Nato and Ukraine will meet in Brussels, Belgium, next week in response to Moscow’s use of the Oreshnik missile on Dnipro, central Ukraine.
The meeting on Tuesday of the Nato-Ukraine council will happen on ambassadorial level. It was called by Kyiv after the strike on the city of Dnipro.
British man admits arson on Ukraine-linked London property
A British man admitted on Friday that he carried out an arson attack on a London commercial property linked to Ukraine, and that he had accepted pay from a foreign intelligence agency, in a case prosecutors have linked to Russia.
Jake Reeves, 22, pleaded guilty at London’s Woolwich crown court to charges of aggravated arson on the premises belonging to a “Mr X” on an industrial estate in east London in March.
He also admitted a charge under the UK’s new National Security Act (NSA) of obtaining a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments