The Kremlin says that the firing of a hypersonic missile and an address by Vladimir Putin are clear messages to the West – describing the move to let Ukraine use their weapons to strike Russia as “reckless”.
Friday 22 November 2024 18:10, UK
Russian soldiers killed five Ukrainian prisoners of war near the village of Vuhledar in Donetsk, claims the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office.
Moscow’s forces stormed their positions before capturing them on 2 October, it said.
The prosecutor’s office said one Ukrainian soldier was taken to a forest lane and killed, while four others were marched at gunpoint to a road and shot.
A picture posted on Telegram by the prosecutor’s office appeared to show four people kneeling on a dirt track, before another photo showed them lying on the ground.
Sky News cannot independently verify these reports.
Sir Keir Starmer has stressed the need for all NATO members to “step up” their support of the alliance’s collective defence, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
In a call with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte, he said the UK will in the spring set out its own path to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence.
The pair discussed the importance of putting Ukraine in the “strongest possible position” going into winter as well as the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia.
“The prime minister underscored the need for all NATO countries to step up in support of our collective defence and updated on the government’s progress on the strategic defence review,” the spokesperson said.
Vladimir Putin says Russia will begin mass producing a new hypersonic ballistic missile it fired at Ukraine yesterday, according to reports.
The intermediate-range rocket, known as Oreshnik, cannot be intercepted, state media outlet RIA Novosti quoted the Russian president as saying.
Weapon systems like Oreshnik do not exist anywhere else, he said in a meeting with the defence ministry.
“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. It is necessary to establish serial production,” Putin said.
The Kremlin said its attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday was in response to the US and UK allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said use of the new missile amounted to “a clear and severe escalation” in the war.
By Sam Doak, OSINT producer
New satellite images show damage at the Ukrainian factory targeted by a Russian ballistic missile in the early hours of 21 November.
The imagery is medium resolution, meaning the full effects of the attack are not easily visible. However, damage to the roofs of two buildings are noticeable in the centre of the facility.
The factory produces a range of items, including rocket and aerospace components. It is not known what the affected buildings were being used for at the time of the attack.
The building to the south appears to have been hit close to damage it sustained in a strike that existing imagery suggests occurred between 7 and 9 June.
By Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent
Ukraine’s military has for the first time confirmed the use of British-made Storm Shadow missiles inside Russian territory.
Senior military sources, cleared to brief the media, called the strike “very successful”.
The same sources, talking to the media on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine’s military needs more long-range missiles, including Storm Shadow and ATACMS, and importantly, they need permission to fire the weapons at any target of their choosing within Russia.
Ukraine is currently limited to targets in the Kursk region only.
The briefing came a day after the Russian military fired what Vladimir Putin referred to as a new type of ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
The sources said they are talking to Britain and the United States about acquiring an air defence system capable of intercepting more advanced types of missiles.
They said they believe such a system does exist, despite Putin asserting that existing missile defence systems will not be able to intercept their newest types.
The official revealed that the 11,000 North Korean troops currently inside the Kursk region arrived with seven generals, their own artillery, and Grad multiple rocket launchers.
It was previously understood that North Korea had only sent infantry to Russia.
These senior military sources also confirmed that the North Korean troops are still training, although a few may have already been integrated into Russian units.
They expect all the troops to be on the battlefield in the coming days.
In this wide-ranging briefing, these senior military sources say they are very concerned about a noticeable increase in air attacks on Kyiv, so much so that a separate air defence brigade has been created specifically to protect the capital.
The official said: “Russia’s aim from the very beginning has always been Kyiv.”
The targeting of Ukrainian cities by Russian missiles and drones has intensified in recent weeks.
And the Ukrainian military has also bolstered air defences in other major cities in Ukraine, including Sumy and Kharkiv.
By Sean Bell, military analyst
Russia’s decision to launch an experimental ballistic missile into Ukraine early on Thursday morning has dominated news headlines, but is this really a critical escalation of the Ukraine war?
In his nightly address President Putin claimed that the non-nuclear ballistic missile was targeting Ukrainian defence industry, and that it was launched in response to the West approving the use by Ukraine of long-range weapons onto Russian territory.
Footage of the strike shows a number of independent streaks of light as multiple projectiles hurtle at high speed to their intended targets, albeit that the resulting explosions appear very limited.
The Russian president claims the experimental missile – the Oreshnik (Hazel Tree) – is a hypersonic Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) which is believed to be based on the older Russian RS26 IRBM.
The missile has between six to eight independent warheads – either conventional or nuclear – that can be individually targeted, and the missile has a range of around 3,100 miles, which means that the Oreshnik is capable of striking targets across Europe and the East coast of America.
However, behind this apparently alarming development, it is clear that Russia is simply continuing its alarmist narrative designed to deter the West from continuing its financial and military support for Ukraine.
It is extremely rare for new or experimental military capability to be showcased in front of potential adversaries as such demonstrations provide invaluable data for analysis, which enables vulnerabilities to be identified.
Furthermore, Russia has very limited supplies of this new missile, so it has very limited military utility in the near term. So why did Russia conduct this strike at this time?
Most of the data about the Oreshnik capability has been provided by the Russians – specifically the range of this Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile.
The intended Russian messaging is clear – Europe and the US are within range of modern Russian weapons.
However, for many decades Russia has fielded thousands of ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets around the globe, so the clear intent of this latest demonstration by President Putin is to intimidate the West – it is not a new capability!
Russia has consistently sought to deter the West from its support to Ukraine through threats of escalation, but there is no evidence that Russia has any actual appetite for a wider conflict with NATO.
Furthermore, Russia is responsible for the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the destruction of communities and hundreds of thousands of casualties.
Russia has procured weapons from Iran and North Korea, has exploited dual-use technology for military use from China, and has also fielded North Korean troops in the Ukraine war.
Therefore, the suggestion that the West has escalated the conflict by providing weapons to Ukraine lacks any credibility.
Of note, the US was provided a warning of the impending ballistic missile launch by the Russians through established nuclear risk reduction channels, which is a clear indication that despite the Russian rhetoric, there is no appetite for any nuclear escalation.
A Norwegian student in his 20s has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia and Iran while working as a guard at the US Embassy in Oslo, authorities in Norway say.
The man, who has not been identified, was ordered to be held in custody for four weeks.
He runs a security company jointly with a dual national of Norway and an unspecified eastern European country, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported.
Oslo police said today they would review the company’s operating license.
Norway’s domestic intelligence agency, PST, said last night that the man was arrested in his garage at home on Wednesday on suspicion of having damaged national security with his intelligence-related activity.
The arrest warrant from the district court says, among other things, that the police found records of the man’s assignment dialogue with a person who was apparently guiding his espionage activity, according to NRK.
The court order says the man has admitted to collecting and sharing information with Russian and Iranian authorities, according to NRK.
It is too early to talk about the details of the man’s activity, PST spokesman Thomas Blom told a news conference.
The suspect’s attorney, John Christian Elden, told NRK that the man admits he worked for a foreign country but did not plead guilty to espionage.
It was revealed today that the man is studying for a bachelor’s degree in security and preparedness at Norway’s Arctic University, UiT.
The governor of Russia’s Kursk border has said that 46 Russian civilian residents of Kursk held by Ukraine have been returned to Russia following negotiations with Kyiv.
Alexei Smirnov said the civilians, including 12 children, had been moved by Ukrainian troops into Ukraine after Kyiv invaded the western Russian region in August.
What happened in Kursk?
In August, Ukrainian forces pushed into the Kursk region.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged Ukraine’s invasion of the region and said the offensive was part of a drive to restore justice after Russia invaded in 2022.
Russian state television have been reporting on the West’s reaction to Vladimir Putin’s televised address to the nation yesterday.
In a clip shared by BBC reporter Francis Scarr, the presenter on Rossiya 1 lists how a number of news outlets in the UK have reported on the Russian leader’s comments.
With the headlines generated in the West being the focus of the segment, she then concludes: “They understood us correctly.”
For context: In his address yesterday Putin hinted at attacking military facilities in the UK and US – after the countries’ weapons were used by Ukraine in Russia.
British Storm Shadow missiles have been fired into Russia’s Kursk region by Kyiv’s forces for the first time this week.
Vladimir Putin ally and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned the West to take the Russian leader’s threats seriously.
“I just want to say that when the Russians change the rules for deploying their nuclear arsenal, what is called doctrine, it’s not a communications bluff,” he said, referring to changes made by Putin last week.
“That is not a trick. It has been modified, and there will be consequences,” he said.
Hungary is among the most supportive European nations of Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia, consistently opposing sanctions and frustrating the European Union and NATO over aid for Ukraine and accession of Kyiv and other neighbours to the alliance.
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