Nato and Ukraine hold emergency talks after Russia escalation

The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions”.

Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following a Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro on Thursday.

In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech to his nation that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation over Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

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Putin said Western air defence systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up the bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.

“The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined,” he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow’s talking points, suggesting the use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.

“These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orban said on state radio.

“There is a strong assumption … that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.”

Orban (below) cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasising that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a bluff.

“It’s not a trick … there will be consequences,” he warned.

Separately, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky arrived in Kyiv, posting on social media that he wanted to know “how the Ukrainians are coping with the bombings, how Czech projects are working on the ground and how to better target international aid in the coming months”.

Three legislators from Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday’s previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv.

In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and non-governmental organisations “in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat”, said legislator Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree”, was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region, and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro.

The missile had six nonnuclear warheads each carrying six submunitions and reached a speed of Mach 11, it said.

Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said.

The Pentagon confirmed that Russia’s missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration said.

Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements.

“These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.