Ukraine updates: Putin threatens Kyiv with new missile

In response to Putin's threats to use Oreshnik missiles and hit "decision-making" centers in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian leader "has no interest in ending this war."

"Moreover, Putin wants to prevent others from ending this war," Zelenskyy said in his evening address. "His current saber-rattling with 'Oreshnik' is aimed solely at disrupting the efforts of (US President-elect Donald) Trump that are sure to follow his inauguration."

Trump has claimed that he could end Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a period of 24 hours and it is likely that there will be extensive negotiations to end the war after he is inaugurated on January 20. 

"Putin wants to escalate the situation now so that President Trump fails to end the war," Zelenskyy said. "Putin is the only culprit in this war and the only one who believes in war. That is why Putin's escalation now is a form of pressure aimed at eventually forcing the president of the United States to accept Russia's terms. We are aware of all the existing threats."   

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution which "condemned Russia's use of North Korean troops against the Ukrainian army and its testing of new ballistic missiles in Ukraine."

The resolution said these "recent escalatory steps represent a new phase in the war and a new risk for Europe's security as a whole." 

The resolution urged EU member states to intensify sanctions on Iran, Belarus and North Korea — three countries accused of helping Russia with military aid and support amid the invasion of Ukraine.  

The resolution also called on China to end military aid to Russia, "adding that a refusal to change course risks seriously affecting bilateral EU-China relations."  

The resolution also said "all EU member states and NATO should commit to supporting Ukraine militarily."

It welcomed "US President Joe Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to use advanced rocket systems on military targets within Russian territory" and called "for the EU and its member states to adopt similar measures."       

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to hit decision-making centers in Kyiv with the "Oreshnik" missile.

"By those statements, Putin again demonstrates that he is the only person who wants this war to continue and to expand this war," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said. 

Tykhyi said Putin's remarks are disrespectful to countries such as China and Brazil which are urging restraint in the conflict.

"We expect those countries that have urged everyone to avert the expansion of the war to react to the statements voiced by Putin today," Tykhyi said.    

He said Putin's remarks are "blackmail" targeting Ukraine's allies and US President-elect Donald Trump, who is pushing for an end to the war in Ukraine.

"Putin obviously tries to influence the US administration by these statements, and he tries to basically show that this new administration is weak," Tykhyi said.     

Germany has offered to re-deploy Patriot air defense systems to Poland early next year to help protect Ukraine's weapons supply lines.

"With this we will protect a logistical hub in Poland which is of central importance for the delivery of materials to Ukraine," German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.

His Polish counterpart, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, welcomed the decision.

In 2023, Berlin deployed three Patriot units to eastern Poland following a deadly blast in a village attributed to a stray Ukrainian air defense missile. That deployment ended in November of that year.

Pistorius said a new deployment in January would mean that "together with our Polish friends, we are also securing NATO airspace, as we did last year."

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has approved a significant increase in Ukraine's military spending for 2025, allocating over $50 billion (€47 billion) to defense and security.

That's equivalent to about 60% of all expenditure.

By comparison, Russia plans to spend more than $150 billion on defense and security next year.

Ukraine's budget document also outlines the first wartime tax increases since Russia's invasion, nearly three years ago.

Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenkko said the budget was vital to ensure smooth funding for the Ukrainian defense sector next year. It also covers payments for soldiers and weapons production.

"The priority of the budget remains the defense of our state," Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said in a post on Telegram.

Ukraine receives significant military and humanitarian aid from Western partners to supplement its military spending.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use Russia's new intermediate-range "Oreshnik" missile against the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

"We do not rule out the use of Oreshnik against the military, military-industrial facilities or decision-making centers, including in Kyiv," Putin said at a press conference in the Kazakh capital Astana.

Kyiv has strong air defenses. However, Putin claims that the Oreshnik, which Russia used for the first time on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last week, cannot be intercepted. Western experts have expressed skepticism about this claim.

Russia has not yet targeted Ukrainian government ministries, parliament, or the president's office during the war.

Putin also said Russia would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if Kyiv were to acquire nuclear arms.

The New York Times reported last week that unnamed Western officials suggested US President Joe Biden could provide Ukraine with nuclear weapons.

"If the country which we are essentially at war with now becomes a nuclear power, what do we do? In this case, we will use all, I want to emphasize this, precisely all means of destruction available to Russia. Everything: we will not allow it," Putin said.

The German Foreign Office has summoned the Russian ambassador to Berlin, Sergey Nechayev, over Moscow's expulsion of two journalists from German public broadcaster ARD.

"The expulsion of ARD employees by Russia is unacceptable, and the justification is simply false and dishonest. We condemn this in the strongest terms," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the move was in response to the expulsion of correspondents from Russian state broadcaster Channel One on Wednesday — a claim that Berlin denies.

"Here in Germany, the relevant authorities have taken decisions against two employees of a Russian broadcaster in line with immigration law; these can be appealed," Baerbock said.

"Russia's President (Vladimir) Putin has again and again turned the thumbscrews on the press in his country," she added. "Free reporting is not possible anymore in Russia, including for foreign journalists."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday's airstrikes on Ukraine was Moscow's "response" to Kyiv's attacks with US-made ATACMS missiles.

"We carried out a comprehensive strike," Putin told allies during a Kazakhstan visit several hours after the attack.

The Russian leader has criticized Ukraine's allies for permitting Kyiv to use Western weapons against Russian targets, warning of retaliation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of a "despicable escalation."

"In several regions, strikes with cluster munitions were recorded, and they targeted civilian infrastructure," he said in a post on Telegram.

"This is a very despicable escalation of Russian terrorist tactics," he added.

Overnight Russian air strikes have left more than 1 million Ukrainians without electricity, regional officials said on Thursday.

"As of now, 523,000 subscribers in [the] Lviv region are without electricity," regional head Maksym Kozytskyi said in a post on social media. 

Meanwhile, in the northwestern Rivne region more than 280,000 households were left without power, regional head Oleksandr Koval said. Some schools in Rivne were ordered to study remotely. 

Strikes were also reported in the Volyn region, where 215,000 households have no electricity, according to the head of administration, Ivan Rudnytskyi.

The head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andrii Yermak, claimed that Russia had stockpiled missiles to strike Ukrainian infrastructure during the cold season.

"They were helped by their crazy allies, including from North Korea," he wrote on Telegram.

Explosions rang through the Ukrainian cities of Odessa, Kropyvnytskyi, Kharkiv, Rivne and Lutsk on Thursday amid reports of a major Russian cruise missile attack, Ukrainian media said.

Ukraine's energy minister said that the strikes targeted critical infrastructure.

"Once again, the energy sector is under massive enemy attack," Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Facebook.

"Attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine."

The minister added that the national power grid's operator had "urgently introduced emergency power cuts."

The Ukrainian military reported that there were inbound missiles targeting several regions. 

"Air raid alert has been declared all over the territory of Ukraine due to a missile threat," the Ukrainian air force said on Telegram. 

Other messages from the air force added that the missiles that were detected were headed for Kharkiv, Odesa and eight other regions.

"Kharkiv, go to the shelters!" the air force said in a separate message on Telegram.

The head of Germany's foreign intelligence service BND has warned about increasing Russian hybrid attacks on Germany and the NATO defense alliance, with the underlying aim to test the alliance in hopes that it would collapse. 

Bruno Kahl said BND believes that high-ranking officials in Russia's Defense Ministry seem to have doubts about whether NATO's mutual defense commitments and the United States' extended deterrence in Europe would hold in a serious situation. 

"Currently, there is no evidence of concrete war intentions by Russia. But if such views gain ground in the government headquarters in Moscow, the risk of a military confrontation also grows in the coming years," he said at an event held by the German Society for Foreign Policy late on Wednesday.

Kahl said he did not believe Moscow would engage in such a confrontation to gain territory, but rather to stamp out NATO.

"Certainly not expansive territorial acquisition would be the focus," he said, but Russian President Vladimir Putin's aim is for NATO to fail as a defense alliance, the spy chief stressed.

dvv/zc (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)