Ukraine war latest: Russians told to avoid West amid warnings of Putin’s new missile

Nato secretary General Mark Rutte warned that Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and could come after other parts of Europe next.

“It is time to shift to a wartime mindset,” Mr Rutte told security experts and analysts at the Carnegie Europe think-tank in Brussels.

He said people should gird themselves for the prospect that Russia might try to use “swarms of drones” in Europe as it has to deadly effect in Ukraine.

The Russian president “is trying to crush our freedom and way of life,” Mr Rutte said. The former Dutch prime minister listed Russia’s attacks on Georgia in 2008, the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and the all-out invasion launched almost three years ago.

“How many more wake-up calls do we need? We should be profoundly concerned. I know I am,” he said. “Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation. With Ukraine, and with us.”

The Nato official has also urged Europeans to press their governments to ramp up defence spending.

Russian air defence units destroyed at least 11 Ukrainian drones over three southern Russian regions late last night, officials said.

Russia’s defence ministry said six drones were destroyed over Rostov region to the east of Ukraine and four in Belgrade region, just over the border from northern Ukraine, in a period from 9pm to 10pm (6pm to 7pm GMT).

The governor of Bryansk region, also on the northern border, said local air defences destroyed one drone.

The warning comes as analysts estimated Russian forces are now within just a few miles of the important city.

Ukrainian troops repelled nearly 40 Russian attempts to storm defences around Pokrovsk over the previous 24 hours, the General Staff said in a battlefield report Thursday.

“Russian occupiers are throwing all available forces forward, attempting to break through the defences of our troops,” Ukrainian army chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi said. His forces are outnumbered, he added.

The Biden administration has announced another package of weapons aid for Ukraine valued at $500m, secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement.

President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration is seeking to provide Ukraine as much assistance as possible against Russia’s invasion before his term ends in January, when Republican president-elect Donald Trump will enter office.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said earlier the US would continue to provide additional packages for Ukraine “right up to the end of this administration.”

Washington said 10 days ago it would send Ukraine $725m worth of missiles, ammunition, anti-personnel mines and other weapons.

In its latest package worth $500m, the US has included ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs), among other assistance, according to Mr Blinken.

After Thursday, about $5.6bn worth of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to rush weapons from US stocks to the frontlines remains available to Mr Biden without requiring congressional approval.

Kyiv was not yet ready to start talks with Russia as it lacked the weapons, security guarantees and international status that it sought, said Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff in an interview broadcast late yesterday.

“Not just yet today,” Andriy Yermak told Suspilne, when asked whether Ukraine was ready to embark on talks.

“We don’t have the weapons, we don’t have the status that we are talking about. And that means an invitation to Nato and an understanding of clear guarantees that would provide for us, so that we could be sure that (Russian president Vladimir) Putin won’t be coming back in two-three years,” Mr Yermak said.

His comments come as Mr Zelensky publicly considers the possibility of a negotiated settlement to the war with Russia, launched by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

There are several variants of Army Tactical Missile Systems, a long-range missile system that often carries varying amounts of cluster bomblets.

Ukrainian forces used the US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time in October 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the weapons had “proven themselves.”

Ukraine likely has what are known as M39A1 Block IA ATACMS that are guided in part by Global Positioning System and have a range of 40 to 190 miles. They can carry a payload of 300 bomblets. The M39 Block IA were used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Army documents, and were added to the US arsenal in 1997.