Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Moscow threatens Kyiv with ‘massive’ new missile as British Storm Shadow fired

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.

Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from Astrakhan region during a morning attack, Ukraine’s air force said this morning.

Ukraine’s military also said it shot down six Kh-101 cruise missiles launched by Russia during the attack.

The Russian attack targeted enterprises and critical infrastructure in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, the air force said, at a time of escalating moves in the 33-month-old war launched by Russia in Ukraine.

It was unclear from the statement what the intercontinental ballistic missile targeted and whether it caused any damage.

The missiles have a range of thousands of kilometres and can be used for delivering nuclear warheads, though they can also have conventional warheads.

The morning strike comes after Ukraine used US and British missiles to strike targets inside Russia this week, something Moscow had warned for months would be seen as a major escalation.

Vladimir Putin’s alteration of the Russian nuclear doctrine is “the result of careful escalation management by both sides”, an analyst has suggested.

Professor Sam Greene, of the Centre for European Policy Analysis, said on X: “Deep breaths, everyone. The fact that Russia published a revised nuclear doctrine on the same day that Ukraine first fired ATACMs across the border is the result of careful escalation management by both sides.

“We may eventually get to WWIII, but probably not tonight. None of this happened at a moment’s notice. Ukraine had been asking for permission for long-range strikes for ages. Biden made it clear it was a matter of time. Putin will have decided that this–a relatively minor revision of a document–would be his response.

“That said, the same factors that keep Nato and Russia from going to war with each other make it more difficult for Ukraine to win the war, to the enduring frustration of many in Ukraine and elsewhere. It’s a circle the Biden Administration was never able to square.

“The question now is, will Trump do any better?”

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.

North Korea and Russia have signed a protocol on cooperation after meetings covering trade, the economy, science and technology in Pyongyang, North Korean state media KCNA said this morning.

There were few details in the KCNA report, but Russia’s TASS news agency said on Tuesday that the countries agreed to increase charter flights following the meeting, citing Russia’s ministry of natural resources.

Between January and September, the number of tourists travelling between Russia and North Korea amounted to over 5,000 people, with more than 70 per cent travelling by air, it said.

The increased charter flights are expected to take off not only from Russia’s eastern region close to North Korea, but also from major Russian cities in other areas, TASS said, citing the ministry.

During the delegation’s visit, zoo animals were transferred to North Korea as gifts from Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Pyongyang and Moscow have ramped up diplomatic and economic exchanges in the past few years, culminating in Mr Putin’s visit to North Korea in June, when the countries’ leaders agreed a mutual defence pact.

Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are eating into US stockpiles of air defences, the top US admiral overseeing American forces in the Asia-Pacific region has warned.

“With some of the Patriots that have been employed, some of the air-to-air missiles that have been employed, it’s now eating into stocks and to say otherwise would be dishonest,” said Admiral Sam Paparo.

“Inherently, it imposes costs on the readiness of America to respond in the Indo Pacific region, which is the most stressing theater for the quantity and quality of munitions, because the PRC is the most capable potential adversary in the world,” he said, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

Russia has issued a fresh threat to strike Kyiv with a “massive” new missile in its growing response to hit Ukraine for using Western weapons.

The Russian military could be readying to launch RS-26 Rubezh missile from a site in the city of Astrakhan by the Caspian Sea, reported a Moscow-based newspaper Moskovky Komsomolets.

The ground-based missile with intermediate range of up to 6,000km which weighs 50 tonnes has not been used in the war before, Western missile experts have said. The projectile reportedly flies at five times the speed of sound, making it tricky for Ukraine’s US-provided patriot anti-missile defence systems to intercept it.

Humanitarian groups have criticised the use of antipersonnel mines because they present a lingering threat to civilians.

Amnesty International called the US decision “reckless” and a “deeply disappointing setback.”

“This is a reckless decision and a deeply disappointing setback for a president who once agreed that landmines put more civilians at increased risk of harm. It is devastating, and frankly shocking, that president Biden made such a consequential and dangerous decision just before his public service legacy is sealed for the history books,” said Ben Linden, advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia for Amnesty International USA.

Additionally Norway’s foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, called it “very problematic” because Ukraine is a signatory to an international convention opposing the use of land mines.

Pyongyang exported 170mm self-propelled guns and 240mm multiple rocket launch systems to aid the Russian war effort in Ukraine, the National Intelligence Service said in a briefing, according to lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun who was in attendance.

According to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment from Saturday, Russia received around 50 self-propelled howitzers and 20 multiple launch rocket systems from North Korea.

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: