Russia ‘using old nuclear cruise missiles’ as weapon stock ‘depleted’ – follow live

Russia is likely removing the nuclear warheads from aging nuclear cruise missiles and firing the unarmed munitions at Ukraine, the British defence ministry said today.

“Open source imagery shows wreckage of an apparently shot-down AS-15 KENT air launched cruise missile (ALCM), designed in the 1980s exclusively as a nuclear delivery system. The warhead had probably been substituted for ballast,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

It added that “such an inert system will still produce some damage through the missile’s kinetic energy and any unspent fuel, it is unlikely to achieve reliable effects against intended targets.”

Russia almost certainly hopes such missiles will function as decoys and divert Ukrainian air defences, the British MoD.

It added: “Whatever Russia’s intent, this improvisation highlights the level of depletion in Russia’s stock of long-range missiles.”

Russia’s bombardment of critical infrastructure in Ukraine is a sign of Vladimir Putin’s “desperation”, Ben Wallace has said.

Ukraine’s energy facilities have been pounded by a barrage of Russian missile strikes, causing blackouts and leaving millions without heat, power or water as temperatures plummet.

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Top European officials are now in disagreement with the Biden administration over how the US is benefiting from the war in Ukraine while countries in Europe suffer.

America has managed to make a fortune but public opinion is shifting in European countries over the war, reported Politico.

“The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the US because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons,” one senior official told Politico.

Another senior EU official said that the Western allies are at a “historic juncture”.

He pointed to the double hit of trade disruption from US subsidies and high energy price risks turning public opinion against both the war effort and the transatlantic alliance.

“America needs to realise that public opinion is shifting in many EU countries,” the senior official said.

Nato is determined to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia for “as long as it takes” and will help the war-wracked country transform its armed forces into a modern army up to Western standards, the alliance’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg vowed yesterday.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Romania next week, Mr Stoltenberg urged countries that want to, either individually or in groups, to keep providing air defense systems and other weapons to Ukraine. Nato as an organization does not supply weapons.

“Nato will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will not back down,” the former Norwegian prime minister said. “Allies are providing unprecedented military support, and I expect foreign ministers will also agree to step up non-lethal support.”

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The stray missile which flew into Poland and killed two locals in a village near the border with Ukraine was a Ukrainian air defence projectile, a Polish investigation confirmed.

Investigators have found that the Ukrainian air defence missile which landed in Przewodow village on 15 November was fired from Ukraine and not Russia, as the preliminary reports from Kyiv had speculated, reported The Kyiv Independent.

However, Russia is still to be blamed for the accidental missile attack which killed two Polish nationals, said president Andrzej Duda.

“This was a tragic incident that happened due to Russia’s fault,” he said.

“At first, there was information about two missiles but, during the investigation, the remnants of a second missile have not been found on the territory of Poland,” he added.

Vladimir Putin has told the mothers of soldiers who had been fighting in Ukraine that he and the entire Russian leadership shared their suffering.

Mr Putin shared tea, cakes and fresh berries with the women.

“I would like you to know that, that I personally, and the whole leadership of the country – we share your pain,” the Russian president said.

“We understand that nothing can replace the loss of a son – especially for a mother,” Mr Putin added, breathing heavily and frequently clearing his throat. “We share this pain.”

The war in Ukraine has killed or wounded tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides, according to the United States, and the Russian invasion has triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

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The European Union will bolster its aid to help Ukraine restore and maintain power and heating, the head of the European Commission said after her call with Volodymyr Zelensky.

“During my phone call with @ZelenskyyUa today, I expressed EU solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Russia’s criminal attacks on civilian infrastructure. @EU_Commission is stepping up support, including with partners, to support the restoration of power and heat in Ukraine,” EU chief Ursula Von Der Leyen said yesterday.

Mr Zelensky said the EU is going to aid Ukraine with € 2.5bn along with another € 0.5bn support package for next year.

“I thanked her [EU chief] for the decision to provide a EUR 2.5 billion macro-financial assistance. They approved another EUR 0.5 billion by the end of the year and discussed the preparation of the support package for the next year,” he said.

The EU has also agreed on new steps in energy support for Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said.

Intense shelling by Russian forces has pushed the Ukrainian authorities to evacuate patients from hospitals in Kherson as they fear a threat to civilian lives, officials said.

The head of the Kherson regional military administration Yaroslav Yanushevych confirmed the clearance of the hospital and said: “Due to constant Russian shelling, we are evacuating hospital patients from Kherson.”

Paediatric patients have been transferred to Mykolaiv and 100 patients from the regional psychiatric care facility have been taken to Odesa, he said.

Kherson city and its surrounding area were shelled 49 times on Thursday and Friday, Mr Yanushevych said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has called the renewed Russian military offensive on Kherson an act of “revenge”.

Russia pulled its forces back to the other side of the Dnipro river from Kherson, abandoning its major territorial gain since the invasion began, two weeks back.

Kherson was the only regional capital to be captured by Russia after Vladimir Putin launched the invasion — what he calls a “special military operation” to “denazify” the former Soviet territory — in February.

Vladimir Putin told a group of Russian mothers whose sons have been sent to fight in Ukraine that he sometimes speaks to troops on the phone.

Speaking during their meeting, Russia‘s president declared that he was “surprised” by soldiers’ moods during phone conversations.

“They give me good reason to say that they are heroes, it’s true,” he added.

Many military draftees are inexperienced with no training, and were told to procure basic items such as medical kits and flak jackets themselves.

At least six million Ukrainians are still without power, down by half from the immediate aftermath of Russian attacks on Ukraine on Wednesday.

“As of this evening, blackouts continue in most regions and in Kyiv. In total, more than six million subscribers. Almost 12 million subscribers were disconnected from the grid on Wednesday evening,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address yesterday.

Millions in Ukraine are surviving the war and now the harsh winter with no light, water or heat even as night-time temperatures fell below zero.

Ukrenergo, the national power grid operator, said 30 per cent of electricity supplies were still out, and asked people to cut back on their energy use, in a plea similar to that made by Mr Zelenksy, who called it a key task of the week.

“Please, it is necessary to consume electricity sparingly in all regions, as before. If you don’t have a power outage, it doesn’t mean the problem is over. “Please, if you have electricity, this does not mean that you can turn on several powerful electrical appliances at once,” he urged in his nightly address.