Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. file | Photo courtesy: Reuters
Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session on Friday (Nov 22, 2024) as security was tightened after Russia deployed a new ballistic missile, threatening to escalate the nearly three-year-old war.
NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks next Tuesday (26 November), the alliance said, following Ukraine’s request. The meeting will be at the level of ambassadors and will probably discuss the new missile threat.
Russian troops also attacked Sumy with drones overnight, killing two people and wounding 12 others, the regional administration said Friday morning. A residential district of the city was targeted in the attack.
Ukrainian suspilne Media quoted the regional head of Sumy, Volodymyr Artyukh, as saying that the Russians used a Martyr loaded with shrapnel elements for the first time in the region. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not objects,” according to Mr. Artyukh. suspilne,
Separately, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky visited Kiev. He posted a photo from Kiev’s railway station on his X account on Friday morning.
“I am interested in how Ukrainians are dealing with the bombing, how Czech projects are working on the ground and how to better target international aid in the coming months. I will discuss all of this here,” Lipavsky wrote.
Three Ukrainian MPs confirmed that a previously scheduled parliamentary session had been canceled due to the threat of Russian missile attacks targeting government buildings in the city centre.
Not only has Parliament been closed, “it was also recommended to limit the work of all commercial offices and NGOs operating within that perimeter, and local residents were warned about the increased danger,” said lawmaker Mykita Poturiev, who said it was not the first time such a threat had been received.
A spokeswoman said the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky continued to operate in compliance with standard security measures.
Russia fired a new medium-range ballistic missile in response to Kiev’s use of American and British long-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address on Thursday.
It attacked a missile factory in Dnipro, central Ukraine. Putin warned that US air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at 10 times the speed of sound and which he called Oreshnik – Russian for hazelnut tree.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate also released details. It said the missile was fired from the fourth missile test range “Kapustin Yar” in Russia’s Astrakhan region, and took off 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six warheads with six submunitions each. The maximum speed the missile reached was Mach 11.
The directorate said a similar missile was tested at the range in October 2023 and June 2024.
The Pentagon confirmed that Russia’s missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubez intercontinental ballistic missile.
published – November 22, 2024 06:10 PM IST
