Threat of world war is ‘serious and real’ Poland says as Putin steps up threats against West

Donald Tusk says war is entering ‘decisive phase’ and ‘the unknown is approaching’

The war in Ukraine is entering a “decisive phase”, with Vladimir Putin’s launch of a new ballistic missile showing that the threat of global conflict is “serious and real”, Poland’s prime minister has said.

Donald Tusk’s warning came as Nato and Ukrainian officials convened emergency talks over the hypersonic ballistic missile strike against Dnipro.

Putin said its launch was in response to Ukraine using British and American long-range missiles on targets in Russia – and issued a stark threat that Moscow “had the right” to strike any Western nation that provided Kyiv with such weapons. And he vowed to continue using the new missile “in combat conditions” – a threat to both Ukraine and the West.

Mr Tusk made clear the danger in Ukraine, which shares a border with Poland: “The war in the east is entering a decisive phase; we feel that the unknown is approaching. 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.”

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said the world needs to mount a “serious response” to Putin’s firing of the missile, to show that there are “real consequences”. He added that his defence ministry was already working with allies and partners to develop air defences to protect against the “new risks” his country is facing.

A session of Ukraine’s parliament was cancelled on Friday as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro.

Flashes after the missile strike on Dnipro in Ukraine (Come Back Alive/AFP via Getty)

This week Ukraine has used UK-made Storm Shadow missiles and US-made army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) to strike targets inside Russia, after months of pleading by Mr Zelensky for permission to use the missiles, whose range is between 150 and 190 miles.

Russia has stepped up its threats to the West in response. On Tuesday, the 1,000th day of his invasion of Ukraine, Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine declaring that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country.

US military officials said the Russian missile’s design was based on the design of Russia’s longer-range RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The new missile was experimental and Russia is likely to possess only a handful of them, officials said.

The Pentagon said the missile was fired with a conventional warhead, but added that Moscow could modify it if it wanted to. “It could be refitted to certainly carry different types of conventional or nuclear warheads,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh.

Having initially identified the missile as an ICBM, Kyiv’s top spy agency said it flew for 15 minutes and reached a maximum speed of beyond Mach 11, or 11 times the speed of sound.

Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk (EPA)

“The flight time of this Russian missile from the moment of its launch in the Astrakhan region to its impact in the city of Dnipro was 15 minutes,” the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) said in a statement.

“The missile was equipped with six warheads, each equipped with six submunitions. The speed at the final part of the trajectory was over Mach 11.”

The HUR added that the weapon was probably from the Kedr missile complex, which is a Russian ballistic missile programme.

Putin said on Friday that Russia would keep testing the hypersonic Oreshnik missile in the field and begin serial production of the new system. He claimed it was incapable of being intercepted by an enemy.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, one of the Kremlin’s closest allies in Europe, cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, saying the modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff”.

“It’s not a trick – there will be consequences,” he said.

Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavski called the Russian missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt [by] the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe”.

Britain’s defence minister Maria Eagle said the UK would stand firm with Ukraine and its European allies. “We’ve heard this kind of irresponsible rhetoric from [Putin] before,” she said. “We can’t allow ourselves to be put off from supporting Ukraine, and we won’t be.”

Failing to stand up to Russian aggression would come at a “serious cost” to Europe, she added.

Sir Keir Starmer was asked on Friday if Britain was at war.

“No, we’re not at war, but Ukraine certainly is, because Ukraine has been invaded by Russia, and that war has now been going on for just over 1,000 days,” he said.

“That’s 1,000 days of aggression from Russia and 1,000 days of sacrifice for Ukraine, and that is why we’ve said consistently that we stand by Ukraine,” he added. “We cannot allow Putin to win this war.”