Vladimir Putin said the attacks were a response to continued attacks by Ukraine using Western missiles

Ukraine attack 'response' to Western weapons use - Putin

28 Nov 2024, 06:21 · RTE.ie

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that a massive air attack against Ukraine was Russia's "response" to Ukrainian strikes on its territory with Western missiles.

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

"It was a response to continued attacks on our territory by (US) ATACMS missiles," he said in the televised remarks.

He said Russia is selecting targets in Ukraine that could include "decision-making centres" in Kyiv in response to Ukrainian attacks with Western weapons.

Mr Putin said Russia's production of advanced missile systems exceeds that of NATO (File image)

Russian attacks have not so far struck government buildings in the Ukrainian capital.

Kyiv is heavily protected by air defences, but Mr Putin said Russia's Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which it fired for the first time at a Ukrainian city last week, is incapable of being intercepted.

"Of course, we will respond to the ongoing strikes on Russian territory with long-range Western-made missiles, as has already been said, including by possibly continuing to test the Oreshnik in combat conditions, as was done on 21 November," Mr Putin told a meeting of a security alliance of ex-Soviet countries in Kazakhstan.

"At present, the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory," he said.

"These could be military facilities, defence and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centres in Kyiv," he added.

Russia says Ukraine fired US ATACMS ballistic missiles into western Russia for the first time on 19 November, prompting it to respond two days later by firing the Oreshnik, a new intermediate-range missile, at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

Since then, Russia said Ukraine fired more ATACMS at its Kursk region on 23 and 25 November.

Mr Putin said Russia's production of advanced missile systems exceeds that of the NATO military alliance by 10 times and that Russia planned to ramp up production further.

Russian attack shows 'urgency' of backing Ukraine - Biden

US President Joe Biden said Russia's latest attack on Ukraine shows the "urgency" of backing Kyiv, touting strong support ahead of Donald Trump taking office in January.

"This attack is outrageous and serves as yet another reminder of the urgency and importance of supporting the Ukrainian people in their defence against Russian aggression," Mr Biden said in a statement.

"On this day, my message to the Ukrainian people is clear: the United States stands with you," added Mr Biden, who has looked to shore up US support for Ukraine in his final weeks in the White House.

National power grid operator Ukrenergo introduced emergency power outages in Kyiv

The Russian strikes overnight have left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without power, regional officials have said, after Kyiv warned of a "massive" Russian attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

"As of now, 523,000 subscribers in Lviv region are without electricity," regional head Maksym Kozytskyi said on social media, while authorities said 280,000 were cut off in the western Rivne region and another 215,000 in the Volyn region.

Ukraine's energy minister had said the country's power infrastructure was "under massive enemy attack" after a countrywide air raid alert was declared due to incoming missiles.

"Once again, the energy sector is under massive enemy attack. Attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine," German Galushchenko said in a Facebook post.

National power grid operator Ukrenergo had "urgently introduced emergency power cuts," he added, as temperatures across the country dropped to around 0 degrees Celsius.

A senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, this month denounced the rise in civilian casualties in the nearly three-year conflict between Ukraine and Russia, noting that Russia's targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure may make this winter the "harshest since the start of the war".

Energy provider DTEK said Ukrenergo was introducing emergency power outages in the regions of Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Donetsk.

People take shelter in a metro station during an air strike alarm in Kyiv

Ukraine's military said earlier that an air raid alert had been declared across the country "due to a missile threat" in a message on Telegram.

Missiles were detected headed for Kharkiv, Odesa and eight other regions, according to other messages from the air force.

"Kharkiv, go to the shelters!" it warned.

Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said on Telegram that three strikes had hit Kharkiv's Kyivskyi district, with no casualties reported so far.

Mayor of Lutsk, in northwestern Ukraine, Igor Polishchuk said that "explosions were heard again" in the city.

Trump's envoy

The latest missile salvo comes a day after US president-elect Donald Trump named staunch loyalist and retired general Keith Kellogg as his Ukraine envoy, charged with ending the Russian invasion.

Mr Trump campaigned on a platform of securing a swift end to the Ukraine war, boasting that he would quickly mediate a ceasefire deal between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Russian President.

However his critics have warned that incoming Republicans will likely leverage US military aid to pressure Ukraine into an agreement that leaves it ceding occupied territory permanently or agreeing not to join NATO.

Mr Kellogg, who is a fixture on the cable news circuit and an 80-year-old national security veteran, co-authored a paper this year calling for the US to leverage military aid as a means of pushing for peace talks.

Ukraine has received almost $60 billion (€56 million) from the US for its armed forces since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, but with the more isolationist Mr Trump taking over the White House, supporters fear the well will run dry.

"The United States would continue to arm Ukraine and strengthen its defences to ensure Russia will make no further advances and will not attack again after a ceasefire or peace agreement," Mr Kellogg's research paper for the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute think tank said.

"Future American military aid, however, will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia."

Troop shortages

Mr Kellogg told Voice of America at the Republican convention in July that Ukraine's options were "quite clear".

"If Ukraine doesn't want to negotiate, fine, but then accept the fact that you can have enormous losses in your cities and accept the fact that you will have your children killed, accept the fact that you don't have 130,000 dead, you will have 230,000-250,000," he said.

Mr Trump's announcement came as the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was hosting a news conference to urge Ukraine to enlist more recruits by reducing the minimum age of conscription to 18 - in line with the US benchmark.

Facing a much larger enemy with more advanced weapons and with stocks of volunteers dwindling, Ukraine is facing an "existential" recruitment crunch, a senior administration official told reporters.

"The simple truth is that Ukraine is not currently mobilising or training enough soldiers to replace their battlefield losses while keeping pace with Russia's growing military," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He added that an additional 160,000 troops would be "on the low end" to fill out Ukraine's ranks - but "a good start."

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later clarified that the White House would not make the huge flow of US military aid to Kyiv dependent on a conscription age change.