Ukraine war briefing: Putin accused of ‘reckless nuclear brinkmanship’ in Oreshnik missile strike on Kyiv
Russia’s deadly attack condemned across Europe; Macron warns Belarusian leader Lukashenko to stay out of the war, source says. What we know on day 1,552
Russia’s latest attacks against Ukraine, which Volodymyr Zelenskyy said involved an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, showed “reckless nuclear-brinkmanship”, the EU’s foreign policy chief said. “Russia hit a dead-end on the battlefield, so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centres. These are abhorrent acts of terror meant to kill as many civilians as possible,” Kaja Kallas wrote on X. “Moscow reportedly using Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missiles – systems designed to carry nuclear warheads – is a political scare tactic and reckless nuclear brinkmanship,” Kallas said.
Russia has now used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile three times in strikes on Ukraine, writes Jennifer Rankin. The massive attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region killed at least four people and injured about 100. “They are genuinely deranged,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram, describing Moscow’s latest strikes, which he said had hit Kyiv the hardest.
The head of the World Health Organization said its offices in Kyiv had been damaged by debris from Russian strikes, “damaging windows on the third floor”. “This building is home to many UN agencies besides WHO. No one got injured,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
The German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, joined the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in condemning the latest Russian attacks and described the use of an Oreshnik ballistic missile as “another escalation”. The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “Moscow’s escalating assault on Ukrainian civilians betrays its weakness.” Cooper described scenes from Kyiv as “awful”.
Macron has warned the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, a key Russian ally, against any involvement in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, a source close to the French president said. The warning was made during the first reported phone call between the two leaders since the early days of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, partly launched from Belarusian territory. Macron “stressed the risks for Belarus of allowing itself to be drawn into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. “He also urged Alexander Lukashenko to take the necessary steps to improve relations between Belarus and Europe,” the source added, according to Agence France-Presse.
المصدر: The Guardian — World Europe News
