Zelenskyy demands response from allies as Putin threatens West with new missile

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the West that a “response is needed” to Russia’s threat to use a new unstoppable ballistic missile against the UK and other nations.
Zelenskyy said the use of a ballistic missile to hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro was a “clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war,” adding that Russian President Putin would attack or destabilise other countries unless he’s stopped.
He urged world leaders – his “dear partners” – not to be cowered by Putin’s actions otherwise there will be “endless Russian strikes” and “not just against Ukraine”.
“A lack of tough reactions to Russia’s actions sends a message that such behaviour is acceptable,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Thursday.
“This is what Putin is doing. Putin must feel the cost of his deranged ambitions.
“Response is needed. Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength.
“Otherwise, there will be endless Russian strikes, threats, and destabilisation-not just against Ukraine.”
The Russian president said the new missile was used as retaliation to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with US and British missiles earlier this week.
“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the Ukrainian defence industry,” Putin said in a televised address.
“One of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested in combat conditions, in this case, with a ballistic missile in a non-nuclear hypersonic warhead.”
He added: “We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.”
Putin also announced that Russia would issue warnings in advance if such missiles were used again against Ukraine to allow civilians to safely evacuate.
And also warned that US air defence systems would not be capable of intercepting the missiles.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down six ICBMs out of a total of nine fired from Russia’s Astrakhan region towards the city of Dnipro.
Two people were wounded as a result of the attack, and an industrial facility and a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities were damaged, according to local officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a missile used “matches the speed and altitude” of an ICBM. The Kremlin refused to comment on the strike.
ICBMs are long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, with a range of over 5,500 kilometres (3,400 miles).
Earlier this week, Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine which lowered the threshold over which the country could fire nuclear weapons.
Putin’s new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesperson did not confirm what kind of missile was fired, but said the launch of an ICBM amounted to “grave, reckless and escalatory behaviour”.
Defence Secretary John Healey said Thursday that the recent developments mark a “serious moment” in the war.
Watch as Defence Secretary John Healey tells parliament’s defence committee
Healey added: “Defence intelligence will reveal today that the frontline is now less stable than at any time since the early days of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.”
He added a clear escalation from Putin has taken place in recent weeks, including more attacks on Ukraine’s energy system and civilians, and the deployment of North Korean troops.
The UK is believed to have allowed its Storm Shadow missiles to be used by Ukrainian forces within the Kursk region of Russia, while the US has permitted its ATACMS weapons to be fired at targets in Mr Putin’s country.
Asked whether British storm shadow long-range missiles had been launched into Russia, he said he “won’t be drawn on the operational details” of the conflict.
Commenting in the House of Lords, former UK national security adviser Lord Ricketts told Parliament that permitting Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles would complicate Russia’s military advances but would not change the course of the conflict.
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On Thursday, he said: “However much we all in this House want the Ukrainians to come out with a clear victory from this terrible war, the hard fact is that even with continued wholehearted western support they don’t have the combat power necessary to drive the Russians off every metre of Ukrainian territory.”
Thursday’s reported ICBM attack on Ukraine follows a Kremlin promise of retaliation after Ukraine launched American and British long-range missiles into Russian territory for the first time on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s strike resulted from a week of US foreign policy shifts and firsts, which saw President Joe Biden permit the country to fire the weapons at Russia and anti-personnel mines sent to Ukraine.
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