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EU leaders have condemned Russia’s use of an Oreshnik missile as an ‘escalation’
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Russian forces have struck western Ukraine with a hypersonic ballistic missile which is supposedly capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the Defence Ministry confirmed.
Moscow claims the attack on the western city of Lviv was a response to an alleged attempted drone attack on one of Vladimir Putin’s residences last month. Kyiv has denied this took place.
The Oreshnik is an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile that has been fired by Russian forces against Ukraine only once before, in November 2024. It is capable of carrying nuclear as well as conventional warheads.
Putin has claimed enemy forces cannot intercept because of its velocity at more than 10 times the speed of sound.
Elsewhere, at least four people were killed in Kyiv as Russia fired total of 278 missiles and drones overnight, according to Ukraine’s military, which said it downed 244 of them in flight.
Just hours earlier, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky alerted the nation about Russia’s intention to launch a large-scale offensive and urged people to take shelter when asked.
Around half a million residents in Kyiv have been left without power as a result, the capital’s mayor said.
Russia attacked two foreign-flagged civilian vessels with drones in the southern Odesa region, killing a Syrian national and injuring others, Ukrainian deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Friday.
He added in a statement that one ship heading to the port of Chornomorsk was under the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the other, near the Odesa port, was under the flag of the Comoros Islands.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday to discuss Venezuela, including the situation of Spanish companies including Repsol REP.MC.
The half-hour conversation also covered Ukraine, the foreign ministry said, adding the conversation was pleasant.
“I have held a conversation with Secretary Rubio on the situation in Venezuela. Spain is committed to the Venezuelan people at this new stage,” Albares wrote in a tweet.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has begun consultations to establish a temporary ceasefire zone near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after military activity damaged one of two high-voltage power lines, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement on Friday.
Grossi said the IAEA remains in contact with both Russian and Ukrainian authorities to enable safe repairs and reduce the risk of a nuclear accident amid increased military activity around the site.
The Zaporizhzhia plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, and has been occupied by Russia for nearly four years.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday its military used the new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile in its latest strike on Ukraine.
You can take a look at the latest photos of the incident here:
Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk is very worried about United States president Donald Trump’s statements about Greenland, he said on Friday, adding that as a loyal American ally, Warsaw should be honest with Washington about its concerns.
“I’m very concerned about the Greenland issue, and I’m also very concerned about events in the United States, and everything that’s building such ideological and political tension within NATO and the United States itself,” Mr Tusk told a news conference.
“But because we’re allies, friends, and Poland is an exceptionally loyal ally of the United States, I also believe that when you’re in such a position, you don’t do anything on your knees; you just say what you think. Among friends, you should speak honestly about what’s right and what’s wrong.”
As we earlier reported, Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian drone damaged the Qatar embassy building in the capital Kyiv during overnight attacks on Ukraine.
Zelensky noted.that Qatar was helping to mediate talks with Russia on exchanging prisoners of war.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has now expressed regret over the damage done to its embassy building.
It said that no injuries were recorded.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is the latest to respond to Russia’s use of an Oreshnik missile on Friday.
“Putin doesn’t want peace, Russia’s reply to diplomacy is more missiles and destruction,” she said in a post on X.
“This deadly pattern of recurring major Russian strikes will repeat itself until we help Ukraine break it. Russia’s reported use of an Oreshnik missile is a clear escalation against Ukraine and meant as a warning to Europe and to the US.
“EU countries must dig deeper into their air-defence stocks and deliver now. We must also further raise the cost of this war for Moscow, including through tougher sanctions.”
The leaders of Britain, France and Germany described Russia’s use of an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile in western Ukraine as “escalatory and unacceptable”, according to a readout of their call released by prime minister Keir Starmer’s office on Friday.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron were involved in the call.
Moscow claims it was a response to an alleged Ukrainian attack on one of Vladimir Putin’s residences, a strike which Kyiv denies was carried out.
The Russian military said it had fired its hypersonic Oreshnik missile at a target in Ukraine in response to what it described as an attempted Ukrainian drone strike on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences, something Kyiv has called a lie.
It is the second time that Russia has used the intermediate-range Oreshnik, a missile which President Vladimir Putin has boasted is impossible to intercept because of its reported velocity of more than 10 times the speed of sound.
The missile is capable of carrying nuclear warheads as well as conventional ones, but there was no suggestion that the one used in the overnight attack had been fitted with anything other than a conventional warhead.
What is an Oreshnik missile? Read here:
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