The Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during a test at Plesetsk cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk region, Russia, in this still image taken from a video released on April 20, 2022.CREDIT: RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY, VIA REUTERS
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21 APRIL 2022 • 3:04AM
Russia has successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile that will make the Kremlin’s enemies “think twice”, Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday.
Addressing the military, Putin said: “I congratulate you on the successful launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile.
“This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure the security of Russia from external threats and make those who, in the heat of aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country, think twice.”
He added that the weapon has the “highest tactical and technical characteristics” and is “capable of overcoming all modern means of anti-missile defence”.
“It has no analogues in the world and won’t have for a long time to come,” he said.
The Russian President was shown being briefed about the missile, which was launched from Plesetsk in the country’s north-west and hit targets on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s far east.
The Sarmat is a new heavy Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that Russia is expected to deploy with 10 or more warheads on each missile, according to the US congressional research service.
Latest news from today
- Vladimir Putin on Wednesday night boasted that he had unleashed the first successful test of a new nuclear missile known as “Satan II”, which carries a dozen warheads and could be used to strike enemies around the world
- From the comfort of his Kremlin office, Putin watched as a Russian Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile smashed into a target in Russia’s far-eastern Kamchatka peninsula, almost 5,500 miles away
- The Pentagon has said Ukraine would receive spare parts and not complete fighter jets after Washington was forced to confirm the contents of its latest arms shipment to Kyiv
- Germany pointed the finger at Britain as it sought to deflect a growing international row over its refusal to send heavy weapons to Ukraine
- A street in Ukraine has been named after Boris Johnson after he was hailed for leading the international response to the Russian invasion
- Sir Keir Starmer must formally retract allegations that Boris Johnson criticised the BBC over its Ukraine coverage, the Conservative Party chairman demanded on Wednesday night
- Putin told schoolchildren he dreams of bringing peace to Donbas– just as Russian forces were intensifying their bombardment of Ukrainian soldiers
G7 regrets Russian participation in international forums
G7 finance ministers said they had provided and pledged together with the international community additional support to Ukraine exceeding $24 billion (£18.4 billion) for 2022 and beyond.
They said they were prepared to do more as needed.
In a statement, the ministers said they regretted Russia’s participation in international forums, including G20, International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this week.
“International organisations and multilateral fora should no longer conduct their activities with Russia in a business-as-usual manner,” the ministers said.
Macron attacks Le Pen for being ‘dependant’ on Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron accused his far-right rival Marine Le Pen of being “dependant” on Russia during a televised debate on Wednesday.
“You are dependent on the Russian government and you are dependent on Mr Putin,” Macron said.
Le Pen replied that the loan her political party had received from a Czech-Russian bank with “close” ties to the Russian government was “public knowledge”, and had only been agreed because no French bank would give her a loan.
Macron also criticised Le Pen’s decision to recognise Crimea as part of the Russian Federation after the Ukrainian territory was annexed by the Kremlin in 2014, though she said she now supported Western sanctions on Moscow because the “aggression” used in Ukraine was “unacceptable”.
White House says US working ‘around the clock’ to help Ukraine
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said the US is “working around the clock to provide security assistance to Ukraine”.
Speaking to reporters during a briefing on Wednesday, Psaki said: “We made a strategic decision given we’ve seen Russia reposition their troops and their military to the eastern part of Ukraine to fight a different kind of war on the ground, which will be more shooting back and forth through long range.
“We have been working with Ukrainians and the Ukrainian military to determine exactly the kind of security assistance they need for this stage of the war. That has included an increase in artillery and ammunition”.
Psaki added that President Biden is watching footage coming out of Ukraine “with horror, with sadness, with fear for the people of Ukraine, for the families, the children, the innocent civilians at risk”.
Holocaust survivor dies in Mariupol
A Holocaust survivor has died in Mariupol, Ukraine’s foreign ministry has confirmed.
Vanda Obiedkova, 91, died earlier this month while sheltering from Russian bombardment in a basement.
Her daughter Larissa told the Jewish Chabad site that the family had been “living like animals” since the Russian invasion began, and had been unable to access water, electricity or heating.
Her mother, she said, had “loved Mariupol; she never wanted to leave”.
Vanda was 10-years-old when Nazi troops entered her home city in October 1941, and while she avoided capture, her mother was among thousands of Jews who were taken from Mariupol and executed.
Ukraine government organization
At 10 years old, Vanda Obiedkova survived the German occupation of Mariupol. Vanda was 91 when #Russian army invaded her city. 81 years after Nazi regime, she died. Dying in a basement, freezing, pleading for water, Holocaust survivor asked: “Why is this happening?” #SaveMariupol
Pentagon: Ukraine given aircraft parts, not whole jets
The US said on Wednesday that a previous announcement that it had supplied Ukraine with aircraft was inaccurate, as it had actually supplied the country with aircraft parts rather than whole jets.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby retracted his statement from Tuesday that Ukraine had received fighter jets from an unnamed ally.
While fixed-wing aircraft have been offered by an unidentified country to bolster Kyiv’s defences, “they have not received whole aircraft from another nation,” Kirby told reporters.
“I was mistaken. They have not received whole aircraft from another nation,” Kirby said.
“That said, Ukrainians have received through United States coordination and provision enough spare parts and additional equipment such that they have been able to put in operation more fixed-wing aircraft in their fleet than they had even two to three weeks ago.”
Ukraine to name street after Boris Johnson
By Dominic Penna, Political Reporter
A street in Ukraine has been named after Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister was hailed for leading the international response to the Russian invasion.
A council in Fontanka – a village on the outskirts of the port city of Odesa – is now planning to name a residential road after Mr Johnson.
It said in a statement: “The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is one of the most principled opponents of the Russian invasion, a leader in sanctions on Russia and defence support for Ukraine.
“Rename Mayakovsky Street to Boris Johnson Street.”
The news was broken in an online post by a council official, who added that the new name represented “new heroes”.
Vladimir Mayakovsky, who the street was named after until now, was a famous Russian poet and playwright at the forefront of the ‘Russian futurist’ movement.
Mariupol evacuation fails to go ahead as planned
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said on Wednesday that an agreed humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol had not worked as planned because Russian forces had failed to abide by conditions of their ceasefire.
Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian-organised buses failed to deliver evacuees on time to the point where Ukrainian buses and ambulances were waiting.
I dream of peace in Donbas, Putin tells schoolchildren
Vladimir Putin told schoolchildren he dreams of bringing peace to Donbas – just as Russian forces were intensifying their bombardment of Ukrainian soldiers.
A video of Putin meeting the children at the Kremlin showed them looking at him in awe as he told them he had invaded Ukraine in order to protect people living in two breakaway regions.
“[This] simply forced Russia to launch this military operation, which everyone is well aware of today,” he said. “As I have said from the very beginning, the purpose of this operation is to help people living in the Donbas, our people living in the Donbas. Just like you.”
Pictured: War rages on in Ukraine
UN chief seeks separate meetings with Putin and Zelensky
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has separately asked Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet with him to discuss steps to ending the war in Ukraine.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said separate letters were handed to the permanent missions of Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon.
The letters asked Putin to receive Guterres in Moscow and Zelensky to receive him in Kyiv.
“The Secretary-General said, at this time of great peril and consequence, he would like to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine and the future of multilateralism based on the Charter of the United Nations and international law,” Dujarric said in a statement.
Peace talks hinge on Kyiv’s readiness to meet Moscow’s demands, says Kremlin
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in a phone call on Wednesday that the outcome of peace talks with Ukraine depend on Kyiv’s readiness to take into account Russia’s demands.
The Russian foreign ministry also said Lavrov and Cavusoglu discussed the situation in Mariupol and potential measures aimed at providing safety to civilians, including from foreign countries….
RuSSia is an obscenity. A puss-filled carbuncle on the world that needs to be lanced.
Well, to be honest, folks, I’ve never been very impressed by mafia weapons in the past and this war has substantiated my view and so this newest news about the mafia land’s newest new super duper hyper diaper weapon only extrudes a drawn-out YAWN from me.
He doesn’t need weapons to fight his imaginary enemies, he just needs distractive propaganda to give his sheep something to repeat for 24 hours.
There you have it: no fighter jets. WTF?
Yeah. The US will send spare-parts to repair old ukrainian planes instead. Only one problem. All the hangars where they were parked were leveled to the ground…