JUST IN: UKRAINE PARLIAMENT CANCELS SESSION OVER THREAT OF RUSSIAN ATTACK
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President Vladimir Putin warned the West by firing a new intermediate-range missile at Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to close parliament for a day on Friday, citing a possible Russian missile attack.
Russia launched its first nuclear-capable mid-range ballistic missile Thursday towards the city of Dnipro, intensifying Moscow’s 33-month invasion of Ukraine.
Putin’s belligerent speech, in which he threatened to attack the West and declared that he was “ready for any scenario,” was “understood” in the United States, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Following approval by the United States and the United Kingdom for Kyiv to use its armaments on Russian territory, Putin had stated that Moscow retained the right to attack nations that permit Kyiv to do so.
According to diplomatic sources who spoke to AFP, NATO and Ukrainian officials are scheduled to meet Tuesday in Brussels to address the escalation.
Fearing a hit, parliament delayed Friday’s regular questioning of the government in Kyiv, which is regularly targeted by Russian drones and missiles.
The presidency, the central bank, and other government buildings are situated in the central region. Unlike the rest of the capital, it has not yet been bombed, and the army rigorously regulates entry.
A number of MPs stated that Friday’s session had been cancelled and that they were working remotely.
“There are signals of an increased risk of attacks on the government district in the coming days. Also in Kyiv and Ukraine in general,” MP Yevgenia Kravchuk told AFP.
The presidency, however, assured its office was working “as usual in compliance with standard security measures: if the alarm sounds, we will be in shelters.”
The apparent heightened risk comes two days after the embassies of several countries, including the US, said they were closed, citing the threat of a Russian attack.
In Moscow meanwhile, Russian defence minister Andrei Belousov said Moscow’s advances in the war-battered eastern Ukraine had “accelerated” and also “ground down” Kyiv’s best units.
“We have, in fact, derailed the entire 2025 campaign,” Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said of the Ukrainian army in a video published by the Russian defence ministry.
Russia later said its forces had “liberated” the frontline village of Novodmytrivka, about 10 kilometres (six miles) north of Kurakhove, an embattled civilian hub in the eastern Donetsk region that the Krmelin claims is part of Russia.
Observers of the conflict say Moscow and Kyiv racing to gain battlefield advantages ahead of January 2025, when Donald Trump — who has vowed to end the war without saying how — is due to take office in the US.
Belousov spoke a day after Putin had addressed Russians, saying the war in Ukraine, which he launched on February 24 2024, had taken on “elements of a global character.”
Putin said Russia had hit Dnipro with a new type of ballistic missile called the Oreshkin and that Moscow could launch more such missiles depending on “the actions of the United States and its satellites.”
The attack, which apparently targeted an aerospace manufacturing plant in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, sparked immediate condemnation from Kyiv’s allies.
It also shocked residents of Dnipro, which has suffered routine Russian bombardments throughout the invasion.
Vladimir Riga, 66, was on his way to work when he saw “an explosion”.
He said the attack damaged a rehabilitation centre and AFP saw workers boarding up the windows of the damaged building after the attack.
Asked if it marked a new turn in the conflict and if he feared an escalation, Riga said, “of course I am afraid. Anything can happen.”
The Russian attack also provoked calls for calm from Moscow’s allies, including China.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday described Russia’s deployment of the medium-range missile as a “terrible escalation.”
The Russian attack came after Ukraine recently fired US- and UK-supplied missiles at Russian territory for the first time.
Washington said it had granted Kyiv permission to fire long-range weapons at Russian territory as a response to the Kremlin’s deployment of thousands of North Korean troops on Ukraine’s border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a strong response from world leaders to Russia’s use of the new missile.
Russian strikes meanwhile killed at least two civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy near the border with Russia and one person in the Donetsk region city of Kramatorksk, local authorities said.
AFP
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