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UK vows to arm Ukrainians with advanced weapons after Putin’s hypersonic missile strike on Lviv
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Ukraine has attacked three Russian oil drilling platforms in the Caspian Sea, according to its military.
“Direct hits have been recorded,” it said in a post on Telegram on Sunday, adding: “The extent of the damage is being assessed.”
The infrastructure is said to be owned by Russia’s Lukoil Corporation. Dramatic drone footage shows the overnight attack although Kyiv did not share further details of the operation.
It comes as the Ministry of Defence announced it will develop new tactical ballistic missiles for Ukraine, code-naming the initiative “Project Nightfall”.
Defence secretary John Healey said the UK was determined to arm Ukrainians with advanced weapons to fight back against Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Later on Monday the UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting to discuss Russia’s use of its Oreshnik hypersonic missile just 60 miles from the border of Nato member Poland.
Russia has claimed the Oreshnik strike was retaliation for an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on one of Putin’s residences, an allegation Kyiv denies.
Shortly before Christmas, the new chief of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, made her first public speech since taking charge. She chose as her subject the multifaceted threat posed by Russia, warning of the growing danger from Vladimir Putin’s regime. “We are operating in a space between peace and war,” she said.
The recently appointed “C” said “the front line is everywhere”, explaining that Putin is provoking a new “age of uncertainty” by busily rewriting the unwritten rules of conflict. “The export of chaos is a feature, not a bug, in the Russian approach to international engagement,” said Metreweli.
Last week has seen the cementing of the axis between the UK, France and Germany with the promise of troops on the ground to monitor peace in Ukraine, a move that is bound to antagonise Putin. Concerns about Russian retaliation are growing still further following the boarding of a tanker in Russia’s “shadow fleet” by US forces off the British coast. The involvement of the Royal Navy will have been noticed and noted in Moscow. The hostility continues to ramp up in intensity.
Read the full analysis from Chris Blackhurst here:
As Ukraine is gripped by a bitter cold snap, more than one million people have been left without heating and electricity as Russia ramps up attacks on energy infrastructure.
Elderly residents and those with vulnerable family members told The Independent they are cold and unable to cook proper meals as they face temperatures as low as -15C.
Despondent and fearing death, many are struggling through the winter as blackouts plunge Ukraine’s cities into darkness, lit up only by the bright flash of Russian drone and missile attacks.
“It gives you depression,” 33-year-old Dnipro resident Kyril Tulenev says. “You cannot do anything. You cannot check the news. You cannot properly use your things. Sometimes you cannot call anyone because there is no connection.”
Read the full article here:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that the world had to help Iranians build on protests to engineer change to free them from rule that brought evil to their own and other countries, including Ukraine.
Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, described the nationwide protests gripping Iran as an “uprising”.
He said the unrest showed that Russia had to rethink its close links with Iran, which have included its wide use of Iranian-made “Shahed” drones in the nearly four-year-old war against Kyiv.
“Every normal person on Earth very much wants the people of Iran to finally be fortunate enough to free themselves from the regime that exists there and that has brought so much evil, including to Ukraine and to other countries,” Zelensky said.
“It is important that the world not miss this moment, when change is possible. Every leader, every country, international organisations must engage now and help people remove those who are responsible for Iran unfortunately being what it has been.”
Russia launched an overnight missile attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said early on Tuesday.
“Stay in safe places! The Russians are attacking the capital with ballistic missiles!” Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that air defence units were trying to repel the attack.
Shortly before Christmas, the new chief of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, made her first public speech since taking charge. She chose as her subject the multifaceted threat posed by Russia, warning of the growing danger from Vladimir Putin’s regime. “We are operating in a space between peace and war,” she said.
The recently appointed “C” said “the front line is everywhere”, explaining that Putin is provoking a new “age of uncertainty” by busily rewriting the unwritten rules of conflict. “The export of chaos is a feature, not a bug, in the Russian approach to international engagement,” said Metreweli.
Chris Blackhurst reports:
The former head of the RAF has warned that increased defence spending in the UK is being “eaten up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD)’s overdraft” with the UK’s military footprint shrinking at a critical moment.
The intervention by retired Air Marshall Edward Stringer comes just days after Sir Keir Starmer committed to sending UK troops to Ukraine as part of the coalition of the willing to protect any peace agreement from Russian aggression.
But it represents the third warning by a former member of the UK’s military top brass in less than a week over how the UK’s commitments to Ukraine and elsewhere are not matched by resources in the armed forces and manpower.
The Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports:
Ukraine has attacked three Russian oil drilling platforms in the Caspian Sea, according to its military.
“Direct hits have been recorded,” it said in a post on Telegram on Sunday, adding: “The extent of the damage is being assessed.”
The infrastructure is said to be owned by Russia’s Lukoil Corporation. Dramatic drone footage shows the overnight attack although Kyiv did not share further details of the operation.
Germany is providing five Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine following a contract signed in December 2025, according to Defence News.
The systems, provided by company Rheinmetall are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, according to a statement on Monday. They vehicles will be configured specifically for Ukrainian requirements.
“We are grateful for the trust that Ukraine has placed in us,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in an announcement.
The most recent government figures show there are around 147,000 people in the UK armed forces, with just over half assigned to the army.
But Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s promise to send troops to Ukraine could require as many as 50,000 according to Sir Richard Shirreff, former deputy commander of Nato.
Sir Richard stressed in an interview this week that British troops must be ready to fight Putin’s army if deployed.
“There’s not going to be a peace until Russia is forced into it,” he told LBC. “At least now there is a clear plan from France and the UK to provide a reassurance force or an enforcement force.
“But it’s got to be the right capability, and it’s got to have the right numbers, the means, and there’s got to be proper capabilities.”
The UK is to invest an additional £200m into the British military in a bid to enhance its capabilities.
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