Russia Launches New Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile ‘Oreshnik’ Against Ukraine, Putin Claims

Key developments on November 21:

Russia Used New Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile ‘Oreshnik’ Against Ukraine, Putin Says
Ukrainian UAVs hit the border regions with Russia, an industrial facility was hit
Hungary Deploys Air Defenses Near Ukraine, Cites War Escalation After US Allows Attacks In Russia
Russian troops suspected of executing Ukrainian POWs in Kursk Oblast, ombudsman says
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is facing its second outage of the week after the Russian attacks

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that during the November 21 strike on the Dnieper, Russia tested a new intermediate-range ballistic missile – the Oreshnik (Hazel).

Russian forces launched a missile attack on the city earlier in the day, apparently using a new type of ballistic missile. Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed the type of missile used in the attack.

Putin claimed that Ukraine targeted the long-range facilities in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk regions ATACMS and Shadow of the storm rockets on November 19 and 20. In response, Russian forces launched a combined attack on a defense industry facility in Dnipro, according to the Russian president.

The Oreshnik rocket is designed to carry nuclear weapons. However, Putin said he is not armed with a nuclear warhead in this case.

Putin has warned that Russia will use weapons against any country whose weapons are used to strike Russian targets.

Putin claimed that the US was planning to produce and deploy medium- and shorter-range missiles in Ukraine.

The Russian president also promised to warn Ukrainian civilians and citizens of other countries in advance to leave the area of possible impact of the weapons.

President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said that Putin is using Ukraine as “a testing ground“by launching rockets into Ukrainian cities.

The recent attack against damaged year industrial enterprisetwo houses and nine garages and caused two fires, Dnipropetrovsk Region Governor Serhii Lysak said. A rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, he was also prejudiced, said mayor Boris Filatov.

Two people were injured in the strike.

`Ukrainian UAVs reportedly strike Russian border regions, industrial facility hit`

Russian authorities reported Ukrainian drone strikes against the border regions of Rostov and Voronezh on November 21, claiming an industrial facility was hit.

RussiaThe Ministry of Defense claimed that its forces intercepted two drones over the two regions, without mentioning possible damage or whether some of the drones slipped through defenses.

Yuri Slyusar, the acting governor of Rostov regionsaid on his Telegram channel that a fire broke out at an industrial facility in the central Konstantinovsky district due to a “drone accident”.

Slyusar claimed firefighters quickly extinguished the fire. The type of facility and the full extent of the damage were not specified.

Another drone was reportedly shot down in the Myasnikovsky district of the Rostov region without causing any damage. No casualties were reported.

The city airport Volgogradlocated northeast of the Rostov region, has temporarily suspended operations due to safety concerns, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) reported.

The Kyiv Independent could not verify all the claims.

Kiev launches regular drone strikes against Russian territory, targeting military and industrial installations to undermine Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

There were two industrial facilities – including a factory producing cargo drones for the Russian military – and a military arsenal. allegedly hit during the drone attacks on the night of November 20.

`Hungary deploys air defenses near Ukraine, cites war escalation after US allows strikes in Russia`

Hungary is deploying air defense systems near its border with Ukraine, citing increased risks after the West allowed the use of long-range weapons inside Russian territory, Defense Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky said on November 20.

The minister ordered the deployment of air defense systems in the northeastern regions of the country, saying that “the war has entered its most dangerous phase.”

Szalay-Bobrovniczky attributed this escalation to the easing of restrictions on Ukrainian attacks with Western weapons and linked it to Russian President Vladimir. Putin’s Endorsement of an Updated Nuclear Doctrine.

This decision comes after two Russian missiles they were shot down on November 17 in the Zakarpattia region, Ukraine’s westernmost region, which borders Hungary and is home to around 75,000 ethnic Hungarians.

On that occasion, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that it was necessary to “reinforce efforts to bring peace”, since “every day brings with it the risk of the escalation of war”.

Budapest has consistently criticized and obstructed Western military support for Ukraine, arguing it would lead to escalation, and has maintained warm ties with Moscow throughout the full-scale war.

Previously, Russian drones and missiles launched during attacks on Ukraine passed into the airspace of other countries, namely Poland, Latvia, Romania, Moldova and Belarus.

The latest development in Hungary follows a series of increasingly strong resolutions by Ukraine’s Western allies.

After the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed that the Biden administration would strengthen support for Kiev ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration of President Joe Biden on November 17. allowed Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles to strike deep inside Russian territory.

Ukraine would have used ATACMS missiles to strike a Russian military arsenal in Bryansk Oblast on November 19 and would also have used UK-supplied products Shadow of the storm on November 20, marking the first instance of these weapons being used on Russian soil.

Other Western allies have expressed their position on their own supplied weapons.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on November 18 that Paris “remained open” to allowing Ukraine to use French long-range missiles to strike military targets inside Russia, reported Le Monde.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that she “understands” the US response to Russia, but Rome is making a “different choice” and is focusing on air defense for Ukraine.

`Russian troops suspected of executing Ukrainian POWs in Kursk Oblast, ombudsman says`

Russian forces are suspected of summarily executing a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) in Russia’s Kursk region, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported on 20 November.

Lubinets said the prisoners were “surrounded” but gave no further details, particularly on the number of casualties.

Reports of killings, torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war are regularly received by Ukrainian authorities and have increased in recent months.

“We have sent letters to the UN and the ICRC about this crime,” Lubinets said. Report the alleged crime on his Telegram channel.

“The international community must act immediately. The occupying country has once again violated the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War,” he added.

Armyinform News Service TIES this ad to a video shot by a drone camera purporting to show the execution.

It shows 10 unarmed men lying on the ground with at least five armed men standing over them. At one point, they start shooting people on the ground.

Heavy fighting has been taking place in the Russian border region of Kursk since Ukraine launched a offensive there at the beginning of August.

Earlier the same day, the General Prosecutor’s Office announced another shooting of Ukrainian military personnel captured by Russian troops iin the Pokrovsk region of Ukraine.

Former Prosecutor General Kostin on October 15 called the killing of Ukrainian servicemen captured in captivity a “the deliberate policy of the Russian Federation.“

The execution of prisoners of war is a serious violation of the Geneva Convention.

Russian forces executed at least 124 Ukrainian prisoners of war since 2022 as of Nov. 6, authorities said at the time, while the number continues to rise. In addition, at least 177 Ukrainian prisoners died in Russian captivity, according to a representative of the Ukrainian Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

`Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant faces 2nd blackout of the week after Russian attacks`

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on the verge of a blackout after Russian attacks on power lines left the plant connected to a single line, the Energy Ministry said on November 21.

It is the second time this week that the plant is seriously threatened by a power failurewhich could compromise safe operating conditions and cause an accident.

Currently, the plant is connected to the Ukrainian electricity grid through a single transmission line.

Similar incidents were reported throughout the war on a large scale, with Kiev accusing Russia of threatening the plant’s security. Russia has occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, since March 2022.

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko confirmed that if the last line is cut, it will be a complete blackout because reported by the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Energy.

The Zaporizhzhia plant is not the only one causing concern.

Khmelnytskyi, Rivne and southern Ukraine plants were forced production decline on November 17, after a massive Russian airstrike targeted several substations critical to their power supply.

Greenpeace has warned that Ukraine’s power grid is up “increased risk of catastrophic failure” after mass missile and drone attack aimed at electrical substations.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, confirmed in a statement on November 17 that nuclear power plants in Ukraine had to reduce their electricity production as a precaution due to large-scale missile attacks.

Attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure led to “increased nuclear safety and security risks”, Grossi agreed.

Allowing Ukraine to regain control “is the only way to ensure the safe operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” Halushchenko said.