Putin threatens to target ‘decision-making centres in Kyiv’ with new Oreshnik IRBM missile
President Vladimir Putin has boasted that Russia produces ten times more missiles than all of the Nato countries combined, and threatened an attack on decision-making centres in Kyiv with its new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) missile.
Appearing at the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) summit in Astana, Putin spoke about the capabilities of the Oreshnik missile.
He said that Russia had been forced to deploy the new missile “in response to the enemy’s actions” – a reference to the use of US and UK manufactured missiles inside Russian territory – and that there were “no analogues to the Russian Oreshnik in the world”. He said western equivalents would not appear any time soon.
In the event of a massive use of the Oreshnik, the force of the strike will be comparable to a nuclear weapon, he said.
He said decision-making centres in Kyiv could become a target for the Oreshnik missile, and pointed out that Ukraine has launched multiple attacks against Moscow and St Petersburg. Ukraine carried out its biggest drone strike on Moscow earlier this month.
US and UK sources indicated to the Guardian last week that they believed the Oreshnik missile fired on Dnipro was an experimental nuclear-capable, intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which has a theoretical range of below 3,420 miles (5,500km). That is enough to reach Europe from where it was fired in south-western Russia, but not the US.
Tass reports that in Kazakhstan, Putin also said that other new missile systems could appear and that Russia will continue combat tests of the Oreshnik.
Key events
Summary of the day
-
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike at “decision-making centres in Kyiv” with his country’s new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) missile. Putin said officials were drawing up a list of targets, and Russia would continue combat tests of the missile
-
Speaking at the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) summit in Astana, Putin also boasted that Russia was producing ten times as many advanced missile system as Nato countries collectively were able to manage. He said that overnight Russia had used 90 missiles of and 100 drones to strike 17 targets in Ukraine, which he described as “military facilities, defence industry facilities and their support systems”
-
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Russia had used cluster munitions, overnight, which he described as “a very vile escalation of Russian terrorist tactics”
-
Ukrainian authorities said the attacks had been aimed at energy infrastructure, and earlier today at least one million people had been left without power. Ukraine’s energy company Ukrenergo said the emergency blackouts had ended, but warned of “four rounds of blackouts” occurring before the end of the day
-
Kyiv said on Thursday that Russian forces had shot dead five Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered in the eastern Zaporizhzhia region, marking the latest war crimes allegations levied against Moscow. Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other’s armies of committing atrocities
-
Putin told reporters in Kazakhstan was outraged by the assassination attempts on incoming US president Donald Trump, and he believes that the Biden administration is trying to create difficulties for Trump in US-Russian relations
Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s energy company, has now warned of four rounds of power blackouts during the day.
Here are some of the latest images from the conflict in Ukraine and Russia.
Ukrinform, citing Khmelnytskyi regional governor Serhiy Tyurin, reports that an energy supply facility was damaged by fragments from a downed missile this morning in the region. No casualties were reported, and all power supplies were expected to be restored to normal by the evening.
Vladimir Putin has been giving a press conference in Astana, which Tass has been covering on a live video stream.
The Russian president has said, among other things, that:
-
The new Oreshnik missile reaches a temperature of 4,000 degrees, and “the kinetic impact is powerful, like a meteorite falling. We know from history what meteorites fell where, and what the consequences were. Sometimes it was enough for entire lakes to form”
-
It is unrealistic to expect Russia’s CSTO allies (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) to assist Russia “in any way in connection with the American weapons strikes on the Russian Federation” but Russia was prepared to protect them and the mutual defence clauses in the treaty were clear
-
The Russian Federation is considering making drone operations a separate branch of the military
-
He has not set conditions for peace talks with Ukraine, but has set out Russia’s position clearly. In June he said any peace deal would have to involve Ukraine giving up its aim to join Nato, and giving up full control of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia has claimed to annex on top of the 2014 annexation of Crimea
-
He was outraged by the assassination attempts on incoming US president Donald Trump, and he believes that the Biden administration is trying to create difficulties for Trump in US-Russian relations
-
He rejected accusations in Angela Merkel’s memoir that he had tried to scare her with his dog, and said if she came to visit Russia again he would keep dogs away from her
-
Russia, he claimed, unlike the west, does not interfere in internal political processes in Georgia
Vladimir Putin has accused Germany of using “unlawful measures” and “unacceptable” methods in its treatment of assets belonging to Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft, the Interfax news agency reported.
The future of Rosneft’s German assets, which include a 54.17% stake in the PCK Schwedt refinery, is unclear after Berlin effectively took control of them.
Ukrainian prosecutors have alleged that a former lawmaker embezzled more than $10million (£7.9m) in an army uniform corruption scheme, the AFP news agency reports.
AFP says:
The government in Kyiv, which has been plagued by corruption since the fall of the Soviet Union, is facing a new raft of graft scandals amid a surge of spending on its military as it fights Russia’s invasion.
The Prosecutor General’s office said it had uncovered “a scheme to embezzle more than $10 million for the purchase of military uniforms for the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
It accused a former MP and advisor to the country’s deputy defence ministry of orchestrating the scheme in 2022, along with his son and a foreign citizen.
It said the group brokered a contract to produce $25.6 million worth of army uniforms at an inflated price of more than $35 million, agreeing to divide the extra $10 million between them.
The ex-MP and his son were served a notice of suspicion of “misappropriation of property by deception on a large scale”.
Prosecutors did not identify the accused by name, nor say if any had been taken into custody.
Kyiv said on Thursday that Russian forces had shot dead five Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered in the eastern Zaporizhzhia region, marking the latest war crimes allegations levied against Moscow.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other’s armies of committing atrocities since Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Prosecutors said the incident had taken place on 24 November near the village of Novodarivka in the Pologiv district of the Zaporizhzhia region, reports AFP.
“Servicemen of the Russian armed forces shot dead five Ukrainian defenders out of six who had been taken prisoner,” a statement read.
There was no immediate response to the accusations from Moscow, which claimed to have annexed Zaporizhzhia along with three other partially occupied Ukrainian territories in late 2022.
Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he had contacted the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) over the allegations.
The German defence ministry has said Patriot missile units could be deployed in Poland from early 2025 for up to six months, says Reuters.
“With this we will protect a logistical hub in Poland which is of central importance for the delivery of materials to Ukraine,” German defence minister Boris Pistorius said.
Tass, citing the local regional governor, reports that two civilians were injured in Belgorod region after a Ukrainian drone attack. It also reports that Russia’s air defences have destroyed a Ukrainian drone over Bryansk region.
Ukraine’s air force said on Thursday that Russia made 12 strikes on Ukrainian targets in an overnight aerial attack which mostly targeted fuel and energy infrastructure, Reuters reports.
Earlier Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, speaking in Astana, said Russia had struck 17 targets which were “military facilities, defence industry facilities and their support systems.”
Summary of the day so far …
It is 2pm in Kyiv and 3pm in Moscow. Here are the headlines …
-
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike at “decision-making centres in Kyiv” with his country’s new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) missile. Putin said officials were drawing up a list of targets, and Russia would continue combat tests of the missile
-
Speaking at the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) summit in Astana, Putin also boasted that Russia was producing ten times as many advanced missile system as Nato countries collectively were able to manage. He said that overnight Russia had used 90 missiles of and 100 drones to strike 17 targets in Ukraine, which he described as “military facilities, defence industry facilities and their support systems”
-
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Russia had used cluster munitions, overnight, which he described as “a very vile escalation of Russian terrorist tactics”
-
Ukrainian authorities said the attacks had been aimed at energy infrastructure, and earlier today at least one million people had been left without power. Ukraine’s energy company Ukrenergo said the emergency blackouts had ended, but warned of “three rounds of blackouts” occurring before the end of the day
-
Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 25 Ukrainian drones overnight over four regions, the defence ministry said on Thursday. It also claimed to have intercepted a Neptune guided missile
-
Russian authorities in Kursk have opened a criminal case against Ukrainian service personnel after two civilians were injured in a drone attack on vehicles on Wednesday
Here are some images from Ukraine of the aftermath of the overnight Russian attack.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that, while the earlier emergency blackouts have ended, Ukraine’s energy company Ukrenergo has said it still expects there to be “three rounds of blackouts” until the end of the day, warning that “the time of application and the amount of restrictions may change during the day”.
Reuters is carrying fuller quotes now from Vladimir Putin’s speech in Kazakhstan, where he threatened the use of the new Oreshnik missile on Kyiv.
It quotes the Russian president saying:
Of course, we will respond to the ongoing strikes on Russian territory with long-range western-made missiles, as has already been said, including by possibly continuing to test the Oreshnik in combat conditions, as was done on 21 November.
At present, the ministry of defence and the general staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory. These could be military facilities, defence and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centres in Kyiv.
Putin is attending the Collective Security Treaty Organization summit in Astana, a grouping which includes Armenia, Belarus, hosts Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan alongside Russia.
Putin claims 17 targets hit in Ukraine during overnight strikes
During his appearance at the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) summit in Astana, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said that overnight 17 targets within Ukraine were struck.
Tass quotes Putin saying:
Tonight we carried out a comprehensive strike using 90 missiles of similar classes and 100 drones. We hit 17 targets: military facilities, defence industry facilities and their support systems.
Ukrainian authorities said the attacks had been aimed at energy infrastructure, and that earlier on Thursday at least one million people had been left without power after the attack caused emergency blackouts.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Russia had used cluster munitions, which he described as “a very vile escalation of Russian terrorist tactics.”
Russia and Ukraine return small number of children to families after mediation by Qatar
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to return to each other a total of nine children to be reunited with family members, according to a senior Russian official.
Reuters reports that Russia’s commissioner for children, Maria Lvova-Belova, said on Thursday that six boys and one girl, aged six to 16, were being returned to relatives in Ukraine. She added that Qatari mediation had also enabled the repatriation of two young Russian boys, aged seven and nine, from Ukraine.
In March 2023 the international criminal court issued a warrant for the arrest of Lvova-Belova, alongside president Vladimir Putin, after a panel of judges agreed that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe they bore responsibility for the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.
The UK’s ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has accused Russia of creating “a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine” and called recent attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure “deeply concerning.”
In a speech delivered in Vienna on Thursday, Neil Holland said:
Over the past month, Russia has intensified its airstrikes, primarily targeting energy infrastructure causing rolling blackouts in several regions. Last night’s attacks were the latest in a series. As winter approaches and temperatures plummet, this additional strain on the energy grid is deeply concerning and will disproportionately affect the vulnerable, including the elderly and frail.
Repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure and restrictions on aid delivery have exacerbated the suffering of vulnerable populations. The suffering in Ukraine cannot be ignored. It is our collective responsibility to act decisively to alleviate this humanitarian crisis.