Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to strike inside Russia with long-range US missiles, prompting dire warnings from Moscow. Meanwhile, 11 people have been killed after major attacks in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.
Monday 18 November 2024 08:20, UK
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By Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent
This attack on a residential building in Sumy killing and injuring adults and children as they slept is not the first of its kind, and it almost certainly won’t be the last in this war that’s now nearly 1,000 days long.
We have been in and out of Sumy for the past 10 days, and the sounds of air raid sirens combined with the booming noise of artillery and the rattle of air defence systems attempting to bring down Russian drones, are a constant.
When we spent time with the soldiers who man the air defence batteries, they told us they have very little time to shoot down missiles streaking above them in the skies.
Sumy borders the Russian region of Kursk, part of which Ukrainian troops invaded in the summer and have held ever since. There are indicators that Russia, with North Korean military assistance, is preparing a counteroffensive there, and attacks on Sumy itself have increased in recent weeks.
Sumy’s location, so close to the border, means that civilians have very little time to find cover when the air raid sirens blare. Depending on the type of missile Russia fires, they have minutes, sometimes just seconds, to seek shelter.
Despite its proximity to the battlefield, Sumy still more or less operates as normal. It’s still populated, shops and restaurants are still functioning, and you can see families out and about in the day.
We noticed though that after 9pm the city falls into a kind of darkness as people turn off lights and draw their curtains in their houses and apartment blocks, to limit the city’s visibility to any drones that may be flying above.
Last night’s attack illustrates just how much danger people in the northeast are in. And it’s worth remembering that Russia’s latest series of missile strikes on Ukraine targeted the entire country.
Media reports of Washington’s decision to allow the use of US-supplied long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia was effectively confirmed by Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy.
He has been lobbying Western allies for permission to strike targets within Russian territory, arguing that he is effectively being forced to fight with his hands tied because he cannot hit the bases Vladimir Putin is using to launch air attacks against his country.
He said “long-range capabilities” were a key part of his “victory plan”.
“There’s been much said in the media today that we have received approval to take relative actions,” he said.
“But strikes are not carried out with words. These things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves.”
As was widely anticipated following Joe Biden’s decision to allow the use of American-supplied missiles for strikes inside Russia, dire warnings invoking the spectre of a third world war have begun to emerge from both Moscow – and the US itself.
Among the first to issue such warnings is Russian politician Maria Butina, an ally of Vladimir Putin.
“These guys, Biden’s administration, [are] trying to escalate the situation to the maximum while they still have power and are still in office,” she told Reuters.
“I have a great hope that [Donald] Trump will overcome this decision if this has been made because they are seriously risking the start of World War Three which is not in anybody’s interest.”
Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy head of the Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, said Moscow’s response would be immediate.
“This is a very big step towards the start of world war three,” he was quoted by the Tass state-owned news agency as saying.
Similar language was also employed by the son of the US president-elect, Donald Trump Jr…
Two children are among 11 people killed in a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy, Ukrainian officials said this morning.
Another missile strike left the region’s administrative centre without power.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said a total of 89 people, including 11 children, were also injured in the attack on the city late on Sunday.
It followed a morning of Russia pummelling Ukraine’s power grid, in what Kyiv said was a “massive” attack with 120 missiles and 90 drones that killed at least seven people.
“Sunday evening for the city of Sumy became hell, a tragedy that Russia brought to our land,” Volodymyr Artyukh, the head of the Sumy military administration, said.
Ukraine’s air force said Russian forces used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59 guided missile in the overnight attack.
By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor
While a significant step up in support for Ukraine, the ability to use American long-range missiles inside Russia is not a war-winning development.
But it does expand Kyiv’s capacity to hit important military targets deliberately positioned by Russian commanders far back from the frontline. This includes stockpiles of missiles, drones and other ammunition used to strike Ukraine.
Just as important as the military impact, though, is the political signal that the US decision sends to the Kremlin about Washington’s willingness to defy Russian warnings about dire consequences should Joe Biden dare to grant Ukraine the permission it’s so long been seeking.
The dramatic move by the US comes after months of lobbying by Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A key thing to watch now will be how Vladimir Putin reacts the first time an American missile kills Russian soldiers on Russian soil.
Moscow does not want a direct war with the United States and NATO – nuclear-armed forces with far greater combined firepower – but the Kremlin could well ramp up an already heightened campaign of sabotage and other forms of hybrid warfare across Europe.
Another important reaction to track will be how Donald Trump responds to Mr Biden’s move and whether he continues to allow Ukraine this permission once he takes over as the US commander-in-chief.
The president-elect has vowed to end Russia’s war in Ukraine quickly but he has not said how. Yet he has voiced fierce opposition to the continued gifting of vast quantities of American weapons to the Ukrainian military.
It is a reason perhaps for Ukraine to make use of its new freedoms with US missiles as quickly as possible.
Good morning.
At the start of each week, we publish an overview of the major events in the conflict from the past seven days.
It’s fast approaching 1,000 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine – and here’s what you need to know…
Biden approves use of long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia
In what represents a major policy shift, Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine to begin firing US-supplied rockets deep into Russia.
Mr Biden’s policy shift means Kyiv will now be able to use Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) for long-range attacks to hold onto the small chunk of Russian territory it occupies in Kursk.
The US has eased restrictions on the use of ATACMS, which have a range of up to 190 miles, after Russia began deploying North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces in the conflict.
Ukraine plans to conduct its first such attacks in the coming days, sources told NBC, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.
Russia stages large attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched in a “massive combined strike” overnight into Sunday, with Ukrainian defences shooting down nearly 150.
The sweeping attack targeted energy infrastructure across Ukraine and prompted emergency power cuts.
Multiple people were killed in four regions of Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it launched a strike on energy facilities supplying Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, Russian news agencies reported.
Russian advances in the east
Ukrainian troops are facing a “challenging” situation in the country’s east, where Russian forces have been waging a major offensive for months, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Speaking about the situation on the front in a radio interview over the weekend, the Ukrainian leader cited several issues including soldier fatigue, problems with equipping and rotating brigades and delays to military aid from allies.
Russia claims to have captured another series of villages and settlements in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in the past week, where it is focusing offensive pressure on the strategic towns of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, which are both vital to Ukraine.
Our chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who recently visited Ukrainian soldiers in the east, said Moscow was “in the ascendancy” and Ukraine’s army was “in quite a lot of trouble”.
Ukraine faces 50,000 troops in Kursk
As Ukrainian troops struggle against Russia’s military might in the east, a separate army of soldiers are maintaining a stronghold in the Russian border region of Kursk, where Kyiv launched a surprise invasion and took swathes of territory in August.
Ukrainian officials said last week that Russia had massed a force of around 50,000 troops, including 10,000 North Korean soldiers, for an assault that could happen at any moment.
Kyiv’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Moscow was trying to “dislodge” Ukraine’s troops and “advance deep into the territory we control”.
NATO allies believe Putin is hoping to recapture Russian territory before Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January.
Trump and Putin ‘speak on the phone’
Last week began with reports in US media that Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin in a phone call the day after the presidential election and urged him not to escalate the war in Ukraine.
The president-elect was also reported to have reminded Putin of America’s sizeable military presence in Europe during the conversation on Thursday, according to The Washington Post and Reuters, who cited sources familiar with the call.
The Kremlin, however, denied the reports, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Putin has no specific plans to speak to Trump at present.
It comes as question marks remain over the future of US support for Ukraine two weeks on from the presidential election.
Trump had claimed he could end the war in a day if re-elected to the White House – but some in Kyiv worry this could mean having to give up land in the east, as well as Crimea.
Scholz-Putin call angers Ukraine
If the reports are true, Trump is not the only Western leader to have held recent talks with Putin.
On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Putin spoke in a phone call lasting around an hour – their first since December 2022.
A German official said Scholz condemned “Russia’s war of aggression” during the conversation and called on Putin to end it by withdrawing troops.
But Volodymyr Zelenskyy was critical of the call, saying it undermined efforts to isolate the Russian leader and opened “Pandora’s box”.
Scholz defended the conversation on Sunday, saying he wanted to dispel any illusions about Ukraine losing support from the West. He also said the “detailed” call shows little has changed in the Russian president’s attitude towards the war.
Sky News speaks to troops on the ground
Our chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay has been spending time with Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine, where as we explained, the situation is tough as they come up against intense Russian attacks.
A commander called “Genius” by his men, who used to run an organisation helping children, said Ukraine is running low on troops and equipment.
He is sceptical about the US president-elect striking a deal with Russia – and expects fighting in the Kursk region to intensify.
You can read the full report here:
We’ll be back soon with more updates on the war in Ukraine.
Here is an overview of the key lines from tonight:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has urged the country’s military to improve capabilities for fighting a war in a speech last week, state media KCNA has said.
“He ardently called upon all the participants to go all out for bringing about substantial and fundamental improvement in improving their capabilities for fighting an actual war,” KCNA said.
The report comes amid international criticism over rapidly developing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.
Washington, Seoul and Kyiv have said there are more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia to support its war against Ukraine , and some of them have engaged in combat in Kursk, near the Ukraine border.
Kyiv has launched an overnight drone attack on Russia’s border of Bryansk, the governor of the region bordering Ukraine has said.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor, wrote on Telegram: “Air defence units continue to work to protect our region.”
Mr Bogomaz said Russia destroyed 26 Ukrainian drones.
These reports have not been verified by Sky News.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the major Russian air strike on Ukraine on Sunday showed that Vladimir Putin was not seeking peace.
The priority for France was to continue helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia, Mr Macron said as he prepared to leave Argentina to attend the G20 Summit in Brazil.
Russia’s massive drone and missile attack has been described by officials as the largest in recent months.
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