UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – With the authorization of American missile strikes on Russian territory, “the conflict provoked by the West in Ukraine has taken on the elements of a (conflict) of a global nature”warned Vladimir Putin yesterday.
The day after a day of extreme tensions marked by Russia's firing of a new ballistic missile, Russian strikes in Ukraine left at least two people dead in Sumy this Friday, November 22.
On Thursday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that in response to Western missile strikes on his territory, Russia had fired at Ukraine with a new type of hypersonic ballistic missile called “Orechnik”, which was in its “nuclear-free configuration”. With the authorization of American missile strikes on Russian territory, “the conflict provoked by the West in Ukraine has taken on the elements of a (conflict) of a global nature”warned the Russian president in an address to the nation. Le Figaro takes stock of the situation.
Two dead in Russian strikes in northeastern Ukraine
Russian strikes killed at least two people in Sumy, in northeastern Ukraine, local authorities said on Friday. This town near the Russian border was hit by “several massive explosions”Mayor Artem Kobzar said on Telegram, specifying that an air alert remained in effect at 6 a.m. local time (4 a.m. GMT) and asking residents to stay away from windows.
According to the regional military administration, a residential area was struck by a Russian drone. The attack left two dead and ten injured, according to a preliminary report from the same source.
Sumy is the main city of a region of the same name, bordering several Russian regions including Kursk, where Ukraine took control of dozens of localities during a major offensive in August.
Moscow Ally Kazakhstan Steps Up Security Measures Due to 'Escalation in Ukraine'
The president of Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country allied with Russia, ordered Friday to “take urgent measures” to protect the civil and military infrastructure of his country due to the“escalation in Ukraine”.
“Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the prime minister, the presidential administration, the heads of all security forces (army, special services, police, prosecutor's office) and local leaders to take urgent measures to protect the main civilian and military objects in connection with the escalation of the situation around Ukraine”Presidential spokesperson Berik Uali reported on Facebook. The latter recalls that Kazakhstan had regularly called on Moscow and kyiv to negotiate to end the war “between two Slavic peoples”.
This decision by President Tokayev was taken after Russian forces fired a latest generation missile at Ukraine designed to carry a nuclear warhead, an unprecedented escalation in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Vladimir Putin is expected Wednesday in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic sharing around 7,500 kilometers of border with Russia and part of military and political blocs with Moscow. Astana maintains a balancing act on the war in Ukraine by supporting Ukrainian territorial integrity and increasing its ties with the West, without openly condemning the Russian invasion.
Conflict in Ukraine has taken on a “global character,” says Putin
Russian leader Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the conflict in Ukraine has taken a “global character” and that this “Orechnik” hypersonic ballistic missile launch was a response to Western missile strikes on its territory. In recent days, Ukraine had struck Russian territory with American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles.
