Ukrainian investigators are studying the debris of a new Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile that was fired at the city of Dnipro on Thursday, the first time such a powerful weapon has been used in the war.
The scorched and crumbled pieces of debris were laid out in a hangar at a facility which conducts weapons forensics. Ukrainian experts study such debris to gain insight into Russian military supply chains, production and how to develop countermeasures.
Russia has dubbed the missile the Oreshnik (Hazel Tree) and said it is impossible to intercept it with air defenses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the use of the weapon a severe escalation and urged his allies to respond. He also said that Ukraine needs to strengthen its air defenses to protect people after its air defense units shot down 50 of 73 Russian drones launched overnight over many regions.
"We have to do more to help Ukraine with its air defenses, to shoot down these ballistic missiles. It can be done… despite what Putin says about their invincibility," Jamie Shea, former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General and now Senior Fellow at the Friends of Europe think tank, told CGTN.
Ukraine has said the weapon reached a top speed of more than 13,000 kph (8,000 mph) on its way towards Dnipro.
Intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range of up to 5,500 kilometers.
Parts of a ballistic missile, which Russia used in a strike towards Dnipro city this week, are displayed at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. /Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
The Kremlin later said it fired a new intermediate-range missile at a Ukrainian military target in Dnipro in response to Kyiv striking Russia with U.S. and British made missiles for the first time after the U.S. granted its approval.
Putin's intimidation tactics
The U.S. military has said the missile's design is based on the longer-range RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The new missile was experimental and Russia likely possessed only a handful of them, they said.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow would keep testing the missile in combat and had a stock ready to use.
Moscow says that by giving the green light for Ukraine to fire Western missiles deep inside Russia, the U.S. and its allies are entering into direct conflict with Russia. Last week, Putin approved policy changes that lowered the threshold for Russia to use nuclear weapons in response to an attack with conventional weapons.
Shea pointed out that Ukraine needs western leaders to show resolve, especially after "Putin went into a propaganda overdrive in an attempt to really intimidate the West to stop supporting Ukraine."
He added, they must send a clear message that says "We're not being intimidated, we're not going to be browbeaten with the way we've heard these threats before. It's not going to stop us [from] helping Ukraine."
Meanwhile, Ukraine has lost over 40 percent of the territory in Russia's Kursk region that it captured in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said.
With the thrust into Kursk, Kyiv aimed to stem Russian attacks in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, force Russia to pull back forces gradually advancing in the east and give Kyiv extra leverage in any future peace negotiations.
But Russian forces are still advancing in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
Men clean a damaged rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22. /Florent Vergnes/AFP
"Russians are now on the threshold of capturing some significant towns with coal mining [capabilities], mineral [reserves], and transport [links] in the Donbass area. It would open up the possibility of pushing their advance further," warned the analyst.
President Zelenskyy said he believed President Putin's main objectives were to occupy the entire Donbas, which consists of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and oust Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region.
How will Trump's leadership impact the conflict?
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail to swiftly end the conflict, although he has not said how he will do it. However, his stance on the conflict could give Zelenskyy pause.
"With the Trump administration soon to come into office in Washington, one of the key debating points is how far are we Europeans willing and able to keep supplying [arms to] Ukraine and help Ukraine to defend itself, even if the American assistance, which has been so vital up to now, suddenly comes to an end?" highlighted Shea.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met Trump in Florida, on Friday, a spokesperson for the transatlantic military alliance said.
The alliance will hold an emergency meeting with Ukraine at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss Moscow's use of a hypersonic intermediate-range missile in its war on Kyiv, a NATO source said.
The western military alliance confirmed that the NATO Ukraine Council, grouping allies' NATO ambassadors and their Ukrainian counterpart, will convene at Kyiv's request but did not give any detail on the topic of discussions.
In addition to military policies, Shea said the immediate focus should also be on "how to get Ukraine through a difficult winter in terms of energy, for instance, an emergency civilian aid. Can we tighten the screws on Russia further?
"There are lots of sanctions in place already, but the fact that Jamie, the US will put sanctions on the Russian Gazprom bank last week, it shows that even two and a half years into the war, there are still quite a few areas, particularly when it comes to LNG gas, for example, gold nuclear materials where those screws can be tightened," added Shea.
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