Russia has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, Kyiv has claimed as two British-made Storm Shadow missiles are shot down in Russian airspace.
Russia had threatened to strike Kyiv with a “massive” new missile in retaliation for Ukraine using Western weapons.
The Russian military could be readying to launch RS-26 Rubezh missile, an intermediate ground-based missile which has not been deployed in the Ukraine war before from a site in the city of Astrakhan by the Caspian Sea, reported a Moscow-based newspaper Moskovky Komsomolets.
This comes as Russian air defences shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Russia’s defence ministry said as momentum builds in the West’s military support for Kyiv’s war effort.
The British-made missile – which Kyiv has been lobbying to use beyond Russia’s borders for months – was fired at Russia on Wednesday, with images published by Russian military bloggers purporting to show Storm Shadow fragments in Russia’s Kursk region, beyond Ukraine’s northeastern border.
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Terumi Tanaka, co-chair of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning group representing survivors of the US atomic bomb attacks in 1945, tells Adam Withnall in Tokyo that civilisation as we know it is in imminent danger as Russia ramps up its sabre-rattling against the West over the invasion of Ukraine.
In Pictures: Devastation at Dnipro after Russia fires ICBM missile for first time
Russia says it shot down two Storm Shadow missiles
Russian air defences shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday, news agency Interfax reported.
Images circulating online appear to show fragments of Storm Shadow missiles in Russia’s Kursk region – the border area into which Ukrainian forces staged a surprise assault in August, taking a swathe of territory they still hold.
Approval for the use of the weapons is believed to have been given in response to the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops in Kursk alongside Russian troops, in what UK and US officials have warned is a major escalation of the war.
Russia launches intercontinental ballistic missiles at Dnipro
Ukraine’s air defence forces shot down six Russian Kh-101 missiles in an early morning strike on the city of Dnipro.
For two hours from 5am on Thursday, Russia attacked Dnipro’s critical infrastructure, employing missiles of various types, Kyiv’s the Air Force reports.
Ukraine’s air defense forces intercepted six Kh-101 missiles adding that other missiles caused no significant damage.
Casualty reports are being verified, the report says which urged Ukrainians not to ignore air raid warnings.
“In particular, the Russians launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from Astrakhan region, a Mig-31K jet fired a Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, and Tu-95MS strategic bombers launched seven Kh-101 cruise missiles from Volgograd region,” the Air Force said.
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant faces blackout after Russian strike
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) faces another blackout after being struck by Russian missiles which severed the loss of one of its two power supply lines.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said: “As a result of enemy shelling, one of the two power lines of the occupied Zaporizhzhia was cut off. Currently, the station is connected to the Ukrainian power system by only one power transmission line.
“In case of disconnection of the last line at the Zaporizhzhia station, another complete blackout will take place. This is a serious violation of the conditions of safe operation and threatens the development of an accident.”
Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko added: “For the second time this week, there is a real threat of a blackout at the Zaporizhzhia NPP due to Russian shelling.
“A meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors will be held in Vienna today, and we insist on the immediate full implementation of the resolution on the return of the occupied station to the control of Ukraine. This is the only way to guarantee the safe operation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP.”
Russia says new US base in Poland raises overall nuclear danger
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that a new U.S. ballistic missile defence base in northern Poland will lead to an increase in the overall level of nuclear danger and was on a Russian targeting list for potential destruction if necessary.
The air defence base, situated in the town of Redzikowo near the Baltic coast, part of a broader NATO missile shield, was opened on November 13.
“This is another frankly provocative step in a series of deeply destabilising actions by the Americans and their allies in the North Atlantic Alliance in the strategic sphere,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“This leads to undermining strategic stability, increasing strategic risks and, as a result, to an increase in the overall level of nuclear danger.”
The U.S. base at Redzikowo is part of a broader NATO missile shield, dubbed “Aegis Ashore”, which the alliance says can intercept short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
South Korea calls Russia’s recruitment of North Korean youths ‘crime against humanity’
South Korea’s vice defence minister, Kim Seon-ho, told a meeting of ASEAN defence ministers in Laos on Thursday that North Korea’s troop deployment to Russia is a “crime against humanity” thrusting youth into Moscow’s illegal invasion as cannon fodder, his office 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.
Russia attacks Ukraine with intercontinental ballistic missile
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.
Putin’s nuclear doctrine revision ‘the result of careful escalation management’, says analyst
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?”
Source: independent.co.uk