Russia-Ukraine war live: Russian defence minister says ties with North Korea ‘expanding in all areas’ during visit

Putin threatens to hit Kyiv with Oreshnik missiles

Shaun Walker

Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike Kyiv with Oreshnik missiles, an intermediate-range weapon that Moscow used against the city of Dnipro last week and that Putin has claimed cannot be shot down by any air defence system.

“We do not rule out the use of Oreshnik against the military, military-industrial facilities or decision-making centres, including in Kyiv,” Putin said at a press conference in Kazakhstan on Thursday. He said the weapon was “comparable in strength to a nuclear strike” if used several times on one location, though he added that it was not currently fitted with nuclear warheads.

“The kinetic impact is powerful, like a meteorite falling,” Putin said. “We know in history what meteorites have fallen where, and what the consequences were. Sometimes it was enough for whole lakes to form.”

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accused Russia of a “despicable escalation”.

Moscow has said the new threats are a response to a decision earlier this month by the US, Britain and France to allow Ukraine to fire long-range missiles provided by them against military targets inside Russia, something Kyiv had long requested.

Kyiv is better protected than most other Ukrainian cities by air defence batteries, and there have been few successful strikes on the centre of the capital during almost three years of war. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president described Putin’s claim that air defence systems could not take out Oreshnik missiles as “fiction, of course”.

“Putin doesn’t understand military stuff. He’s a guy that people come and show him some cartoon about how the missile will fly, how nobody will be able to shoot it down. He said the same thing many times about their Kinzhal missile. And then when it turned out that Patriot [air defence systems], even the not-the-latest-generation systems, can comfortably shoot it down, he stopped talking about it,” Podolyak said.

Podolyak also said there was “no such thing” as Oreshnik and that the missile was simply a lightly modified version of existing Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles. “The man has just come up with a name, just an abstract name,” he said.

Nonetheless, the threats have caused alarm in Kyiv, causing a sitting of parliament scheduled for last Friday to be cancelled.

Russian drone attacks on Ukraine injured at least eight people and damaged residential buildings in the capital Kyiv and in the southern Odesa region overnight, officials said on Friday, reports Reuters.

Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that, of 132 drones launched against the country overnight, it had downed 88 drones, while 41 were “lost”, likely due to electronic warfare, and one returned to the Russian territory.

Russia has stepped up its nightly drone attacks on Ukrainian cities as it continues to push along the eastern frontline, making some of its largest monthly territorial gains since 2022. It launched a record-high number of 188 drones against the country on Tuesday before staging a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s power grid on Thursday.

The drone attack on the southern region of Odesa damaged 13 residential buildings and injured seven people, the national police said in a statement.

Fragments from downed Russian drones struck buildings in two Kyiv districts and injured one person late on Thursday, officials said.

Emergency services, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, showed pictures of rubble strewn about inside and outside a pediatric clinic in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi district on the east bank of the Dnipro River. A security guard at the facility was taken to hospital and adjacent buildings suffered damage, reports Reuters.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone fragments had struck an infrastructure site in the Sviatoshynskyi district on the West Bank of the river. Kyiv regional governor, Ruslan Kravchenko, reported minor damage to a private residence and another building without any casualties.

Russian defence minister, Andrei Belousov, arrived in North Korea on Friday for talks with North Korean military and political leaders as the countries deepen their alignment over Russia’s war on Ukraine.

According to the Associated Press, the defence ministry in announcing the visit did not specify who Belousov would be meeting or the purpose of the talks. North Korean state media did not immediately confirm the visit either.

Photos released by Russia’s defence ministry showed Belousov walking alongside North Korean defense minister, No Kwang Chol, on a red carpet laid out at a Pyongyang airport. According to the AP, North Korean military officials were seen clapping under a banner that read:

Complete support and solidarity with the fighting Russian army and people.”

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that Belousov on Friday hailed “expanding” ties with North Korea. “Friendly ties between Russia and North Korea are actively expanding in all areas, including military cooperation,” he was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying during a visit to the country.

The visit came days after South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, met with a Ukrainian delegation led by defense minister, Rustem Umerov, in the South Korean capital of Seoul and called for the two countries to formulate countermeasures in response to North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia in support of its fight against Ukraine.

North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, in recent months has prioritised relations with Russia as he tries to break out of isolation and strengthen his international footing, embracing the idea of a “new cold war”, reports the AP.

The US and its allies have said North Korea has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in recent weeks and that some of those troops were engaging in combat.

On Thursday, Joe Biden said Russia’s latest attack on Ukraine shows the “urgency” of backing Kyiv, touting strong support ahead of Donald Trump taking office in January.

“This attack is outrageous and serves as yet another reminder of the urgency and importance of supporting the Ukrainian people in their defence against Russian aggression,” Biden said in a statement.

Earlier on Thursday, Russia pummelled Ukraine’s energy grid with almost 200 missiles and drones, leaving a million people without power.

“On this day, my message to the Ukrainian people is clear: the United States stands with you,” added Biden.

In other developments:

• Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike Kyiv with Oreshnik missiles, an intermediate-range weapon that Moscow used against the city of Dnipro last week and that Putin has claimed cannot be shot down by any air defence system.

• It came after Moscow pummelled Ukraine’s energy grid in an attack that left a million people without power. Russia fired more than 90 missiles and about 100 drones during the barrage, according to Kyiv, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy urging his allies to respond firmly to what he dubbed Russian “blackmail”. Putin said the fresh bombardment was a “response” to Ukrainian strikes on his territory with western missiles.

• Russian drone attacks on Ukraine injured at least eight people and damaged residential buildings in the capital Kyiv and in the southern Odesa region overnight, officials said on Friday. Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that, of 132 drones launched against the country overnight, it had downed 88 drones, while 41 were “lost”, likely due to electronic warfare, and one returned to the Russian territory.

• Georgian riot police deployed teargas and water cannon against demonstrators protesting a government decision to delay asking for EU accession, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporters witnessed. Thousands rallied in the capital Tbilisi and cities across Georgia after prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, announced the decision amid a post-election crisis that saw the country’s president challenge the legitimacy of the newly elected parliament and government.

• Donald Trump’s plan to tap the retired US Lt Gen Keith Kellogg as US envoy to Ukraine and Russia has triggered renewed interest in a policy document he co-authored. It proposes ending the war by withdrawing weapons from Ukraine if it does not enter peace talks – and giving even more weapons to Ukraine if Russia does not do the same.