Kyiv urged the West to strengthen its air defences and supply it with systems capable of downing the kind of experimental ballistic missile that Moscow fired for the first time at Ukraine last week, as the Kremlin sought to bolster its invasion force by offering a €90,000 debt write-off to new recruits.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said his military used a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) called “Oreshnik” to hit a defence factory in the city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, in response to Ukraine striking targets in Russia for the first time with US Atacms ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
Ukraine presented parts of the missile to the media over the weekend and said it flew at a top speed of Mach 11 (more than 13,000km/h) and carried six non-nuclear warheads, each with six submunitions.
Mr Putin said Oreshnik missiles cannot be stopped by any existing western air defence systems and that his military had a stock of the weapon ready for use. Ukraine and western states have questioned his claims and suggested that the missile, rather than being entirely new, is based heavily on previously known models.
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The Kremlin is known for making overblown claims about its arms: before its full-scale invasion of its pro-western neighbour in February 2022, Mr Putin said Russia’s Kinzhal missile could not be shot down. However, Ukrainian forces have intercepted several using US-supplied Patriot air defence systems that are about 40 years old.
“Just last night, our air defence forces managed to shoot down nearly 50 strike drones. Over the past week, Russia has launched more than 800 guided aerial bombs, around 460 strike drones, and over 20 missiles of various types against Ukraine and our people,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.
“Ukraine is not a testing ground for weapons...Yet, Russia persists in its attempts to destroy our people, sow fear and panic and weaken us. Ukraine needs more air defence systems and we are actively working with our partners on this. Strengthening the protection of our skies is absolutely critical.”
Long blackouts now affect millions of Ukrainians almost every day after Russia destroyed more than 60 per cent of the country’s electricity-generating capacity with waves of missile and drone strikes this year, and more attacks are expected as winter begins to bite, potentially using the kind of missile fired on Thursday.
“Russia’s use of an IRBM is typical blackmail. Putin tries to scare everyone off from supporting Ukraine,” Kyiv’s minister for foreign affairs Andrii Sybiha said on Sunday. “Ukraine’s partners should do the exact opposite: reject blackmail, increase support, and strengthen Ukraine’s air shield with systems capable of intercepting such missiles.”
Russia has been grinding slowly forward in eastern Ukraine all year, without capturing any large cities, and has retaken about half of the roughly 1,500sq km of its Kursk border region that Kyiv’s forces seized in a lightning attack in August.
Ukraine is pressing allies to provide as much military support as possible urgently, amid uncertainty over how Donald Trump will approach the war when he returns to the White House in January. He has said he could stop the war in a day, without explaining how.
Western states have condemned North Korea’s deployment of at least 10,000 troops to help Russia, as Moscow tries to bolster its depleted army ranks without conducting another unpopular round of mobilisation.
In a bid to tempt new recruits, Mr Putin signed a law on Saturday to offer a debt write-off of up to 10 million roubles (€92,000) to Russians who sign up to fight in Ukraine for at least one year.
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