The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, November 26, that it was preparing a “response” to recent Ukrainian strikes using American ATACMS missiles against its territory, with President Vladimir Putin having warned last week that he did not rule out striking the West. “The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is monitoring the situation and preparing a response,” it said in a statement.
These attacks, which kyiv has not commented on, occur in the midst of a new escalation of tensions between the Kremlin and Western countries, after almost three years of war in Ukraine.
Information to remember
⇒ Russia reports two new Ukrainian strikes using US ATACMS missiles
⇒ Ukraine targeted by record drone attack
⇒ kyiv says it cannot respect its commitment to destroy antipersonnel mines
Russia reports two new Ukrainian strikes using US ATACMS missiles
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian forces have struck “facilities” in the Russian border region of Kursk partially occupied by the Ukrainian army since August.
They took place on November 23 near the village of Lotarevka, 37 kilometers northwest of the city of Kursk, and on November 25 against the Kursk-Vostochny airfield, according to the same source. He recognized, a rare occurrence, that several missiles had “hit their targets” and reported two Russian soldiers injured and a radar damaged in these shots. According to him, three ATACMS missiles, with a range of 300 km, out of the five fired were shot down by the Russian anti-aircraft defense during the attack of November 23 and seven projectiles out of eight fired during that of November 25. “The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is monitoring the situation and preparing a response,” he said in a statement, accompanying his message with photos appearing to show missile debris, the authenticity of which cannot be confirmed independently.
Ukraine targeted by record drone attack
Ukraine announced on Tuesday that it had been the target of a Russian attack overnight with a record number of 188 combat drones which, according to kyiv, damaged residential buildings and “essential infrastructure”, but did not caused victims.
“During the night attack, the enemy launched a record number of Shahed-type and unidentified combat drones,” as well as four Iskander-M ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement on Telegram. “Unfortunately, critical infrastructure sites were affected” and “in several regions, homes and residential buildings were damaged,” she added. According to preliminary data, the attack did not cause any “deaths or injuries”, the air force said.
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Towards morning, air defense managed to shoot down 76 drones in 17 Ukrainian regions while 95 of its aircraft probably fell due to electronic jamming by the Ukrainian army, the statement added. Five other drones flew towards Belarusian territory, a country allied with Moscow located in the north of Ukraine, according to the same source.
kyiv accuses Russia of carrying out “genocidal activities” with antipersonnel mines
Russia is carrying out “genocidal activities” using antipersonnel mines in Ukraine, a representative of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Tuesday during an international summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Moscow disseminated these explosive charges in “cities, farms, public transport stations”, declared Oleksandr Riabtsev, affirming that these threats concerned regions where some six million Ukrainians reside.
Russia expels British diplomat for 'espionage'
Russia announced on Tuesday that it would expel a British diplomat, accused of espionage and having communicated “false” personal information to the authorities upon his arrival in the country, and would subsequently summon British Ambassador Nigel Casey, a new incident diplomatic between the two countries in the middle of the conflict in Ukraine.
The Russian secret services (FSB) said they had found “signs of espionage and subversive activities carried out by this diplomat”, Russian news agencies reported, specifying that he had “two weeks” to leave Russian territory. . The diplomat in question, presented by the FSB as being “the second secretary of the political department of the British embassy in Moscow”, “deliberately presented false information (on his activity, editor's note) when he obtained authorization to 'enter our country, thereby violating Russian law.'
Ukraine says it cannot meet commitment to destroy landmines due to Russian invasion
Ukraine will not be able to respect its commitment to destroy nearly six million Soviet-era antipersonnel mines, made under the Ottawa Convention, a Defense Ministry official said on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, the implementation of this obligation is not possible at present,” Yevhenii Kivshyk said at an international summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on landmines. “The massive, unprovoked and unjustified aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine led to adjustments to the stockpile destruction plans,” he continued.
The official justified this decision by the redeployment of financial resources for the war effort, the “constant” bombings and the “occupation” of the Russian armed forces in certain territories where there are depots. In his speech to delegates, Yevhenii Kivshyk did not refer to the American offer to supply kyiv with antipersonnel mines, intended to slow the advance of Moscow's troops in the east of the country, according to Washington. The proposal caused an outcry from human rights groups.
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Russia claims to have conquered a village in the Kharkiv region
The Russian army claimed Tuesday the capture of a village in the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, Russia increasing its conquests in recent weeks in the face of a struggling Ukrainian army. “Thanks to decisive actions, units of the 'West' military group liberated the village of Kopanky in the Kharkiv region” in northeastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said. This locality is located in an area which had been occupied by the Russians at the start of the conflict, but which kyiv had managed to recapture in the fall of 2022.
NATO-Ukraine Council in Brussels after the firing of an experimental Russian missile
The ambassadors of NATO and Ukraine are meeting today in Brussels, after the firing of an experimental Russian missile on Ukrainian soil, which caused renewed tension between the Allies and Russia. Russia struck Ukraine on Thursday with a latest generation intermediate-range ballistic missile without nuclear warhead, and promised to increase this type of attacks if kyiv continued to use Western missiles to target its territory.
The NATO-Ukraine Council is a body created in 2023 to facilitate dialogue between kyiv and the Atlantic Alliance. Ukraine is awaiting “concrete” decisions against Russia, insisted its Foreign Minister, Andriï Sybiga. The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss “the current situation in Ukraine and will include briefings from Ukrainian officials via video link,” a NATO official said. Alliance diplomats were, however, cautious about the results to be expected from this meeting. The ambassadors should reaffirm that this new Russian weapon will not prevent them from “continuing to support Ukraine”, according to one of them.
United States 'dismayed' by Moscow's alleged use of banned gas in Ukraine
Western countries and Russia locked horns Monday at a meeting on chemical weapons control, with a U.S. official saying she was “dismayed” by Moscow's alleged use of banned tear gas as a means of warfare in Ukraine .
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced on November 18 that it had discovered CS riot gas in samples provided by Ukraine, coming from the area where it is fighting Russian forces it accuses of have recourse. The OPCW's Chemical Weapons Convention, based in The Hague, prohibits the use of riot control agents, including CS gas, “as means of warfare.”
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“I remain dismayed by the scale and frequency of Russia's use of riot control agents as a means of warfare against Ukrainian forces,” said US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Bonnie Jenkins, at the OPCW annual meeting. “Russia already lied when it said it did not intend to invade Ukraine. It also lied when it said it was not using riot control agents in violation of the Convention,” she told delegates.
This is the first time that the use of anti-riot gas has been confirmed in areas where fighting is taking place in Ukraine, according to the OPCW, which however stressed that it is not seeking to identify the source. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of using chemical weapons for nearly three years of war.
