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Putin vowed to launch more intermediate-range ballistic missiles targeting Ukraine
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Vladimir Putin has hailed Russia’s “unstoppable” hypersonic missiles as he threatened to strike the West in a coded message.
The Russian leader claimed there was no way of stopping the intermediate-range “Oreshnik” ballistic missile used to strike Ukraine on Thursday.
He said last week’s attack on Dnipro was a direct response to Ukrainian forces striking Russia with US and British long-range missiles.
“There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system,” Putin warned.
He also said: “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 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.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky suspects his Russian counterpart’s main objectives are to occupy the entire Donbas region and oust Ukraine’s troops from Kursk.
Currently, the majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia.
“For Putin, the most important thing is to push us out of the Kursk region,” the Ukrainian president said.
“I am sure that he wants to push us out by January 20,” Mr Zelensky said, referring to the date US president-elect Donald Trump would be sworn in.
“It is very important for him [Putin] to demonstrate that he is in control of the situation,” he said.
Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko said the US was using Taiwan to provoke a crisis in Asia.
China regards the island as a part of its territory.
Mr Rudenko said Washington was strengthening military and political contacts with Taipei “under the slogan” of maintaining the status quo, adding that this was in violation of the “one China” principle.
“The goal of such obvious US interference in the region’s affairs is to provoke the People’s Republic of China and generate a crisis in Asia to suit its own selfish interests,” he told Russia’s TASS news agency.
The risk of the Ukraine conflict spilling into other parts of the world, including Africa, “is real”, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a post on X.
He claimed that Russian forces, like Wagner mercenaries, are already destabilising parts of Africa and “exploiting resources and fueling tensions”.
During my conversation with journalists from African and Latin American countries, I emphasized that Ukraine is committed to strengthening its presence in Africa. From broader diplomatic efforts to deeper economic and security partnerships, our goal is a future of shared success… pic.twitter.com/mdFoPKfALp
“Africa, with its vast resources and strategic importance, remains a key target for Russian exploitation,” the president said on the sidelines of an international summit on food security. “If Russia escapes this war without fair and just consequences, it will embolden them to repeat their actions elsewhere.”
“Whether through natural resources, financial gain, or political influence, the continent’s size and numerous nations make it a critical focus of Russia’s destabilizing agenda,” Mr Zelensky said.
A senior North Korean general has been wounded in a Ukrainian strike in Russia’s Kursk region, Western officials have told the Wall Street Journal.
Washington has previously warned that the 10,000 North Korean troops reportedly deployed in Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces staged an incursion in August, could be targeted by Russian forces. But the fresh claims mark the first time Western officials have said that a North Korean military officer has become a casualty.
The officials did not disclose the identity of the senior North Korean officer or how he was wounded, the outlet reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is awaiting US president-elect Donald Trump’s proposals to end the war in Ukraine.
“As for when the war will end … when Russia wants this war to end. When America has a stronger position. When the Global South is on the side of Ukraine and on the side of ending the war,” Mr Zelensky said at a food security conference on Saturday.
“It will not be an easy path, but I am confident that we have every chance to do it next year,” he said.
Nearly a third of Russian ballistic missile attacks against Ukraine this year were of North Korean origin, according to new estimates by Ukraine, warning that Russian forces are increasingly using these weapons.
The missiles from North Korea used by Russia are reportedly powered by western-made components, despite international sanctions against both Moscow and Pyongyang.
Ukraine alleges that several Western companies, including manufacturers from the US, the Netherlands, and the UK produced these key missile components.
In addition to contributing missiles to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea has also sent more than 10,000 of its soldiers to fight on the frontline.
“All the electronics are foreign. There is nothing Korean in it,” Andriy Kulchytskyi from Kyiv’s Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise told CNN.
French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the country’s western allies should “not set and express red lines” about their support for Ukraine amid its escalating conflict with Russia.
Earlier this year, French president Emmanuel Macron expressed willingness to allow the country’s missiles to be fired by Ukraine into Russia.
“The principle has been set… our messages to President Zelensky have been well received,” Mr Barror told BBC.
“We do not discard any option,” he said when asked if French troops could enter combat at some point.
“Each time the Russian army progresses by one square kilometre, the threat gets one square kilometre closer to Europe,” the foreign minister said.
Russia has signed a new law on debt forgiveness for new recruits signing up to fight in the war in Ukraine.
The law reportedly forgives up to 10 million roubles ($95,835) of debt arrears for people signing up with the country’s defence ministry to fight in Ukraine for at least a year, Reuters reported citing a Russian government website.
This latest move comes as Russia continuously attempts to recruit more soldiers into its military to fight in Ukraine by offering large payouts, sometimes many times the country’s average salary.
Russia has damaged 321 port facilities and 20 foreign merchant vessels since July 2023, according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ships travelling along the Black Sea route have been at risk of being attacked by Russian forces.
Mines drifting along this trade route have also posed a heightened risk to maritime transport.
Mr Zelensky said Ukraine’s food exports, of which many rely on this route, “provide food for 400 million people in 100 countries around the world.”
“Food prices in Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, and other countries in Africa directly depend on whether farmers and agricultural companies in Ukraine can operate normally,” the Ukrainian president said at a conference on food security in Kyiv on Saturday.
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