Russia-Ukraine war: Putin makes new missile threat as oligarch Oleg Tinkov denounces ‘crazy war’
Vladimir Putin has revealed Russia successfully tested a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed Satan 2, and will use it against enemies if necessary. WARNING: GRAPHIC
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, local time, that Russia has successfully tested the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, saying the weapon capable of carrying nuclear charges will make Kremlin’s enemies “think twice.”
The Sarmat - dubbed Satan 2 by Western analysts - is among Russia’s next-generation missiles that Putin has called “invincible,” and which also include the Kinzhal and Avangard hypersonic missiles.
Last month, Russia said it used Kinzhal for the first time in warfare to strike a target in Ukraine, where Russian troops have been engaged in a special military operation since February 24.
“I congratulate you on the successful launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile,” Putin told the army in televised remarks on Wednesday.
“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,” Putin said.
Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement the test “successfully” took place at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia.
According to the ministry, the missile delivered training warheads to the Kura test range of the Kamchatka peninsula, in Russia’s Far East.
“Sarmat is the most powerful missile with the longest range of destruction of targets in the world, which will significantly increase the combat power of our country’s strategic nuclear forces,” the ministry said.
The Sarmat superheavy intercontinental ballistic missile is designed to elude anti-missile defence systems with a short initial boost phase, giving enemy surveillance systems a tiny window to track.
Weighing more than 200 tonnes and able to transport multiple warheads, Putin says the missile can hit any target on Earth.
It comes as efforts to evacuate civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol failed again Wednesday because of Russian shelling, officials in Kyiv said.
“Unfortunately, the humanitarian corridor out of Mariupol today did not work as planned,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram. She blamed Russian forces for failing to respect a temporary ceasefire needed for the convoy because they were unable to control their own troops on the ground.
OLIGARCH DENOUNCES ‘CRAZY’ WAR IN UKRAINE
Russian tycoon Oleg Tinkov has denounced Moscow’s invasion in pro-Western Ukraine and urged the West to help end “this crazy war”.
Offering some of the strongest criticism of the Kremlin’s military action in Ukraine by a prominent Russian, Mr Tinkov claimed online that 90 per cent of Russians were “AGAINST this war” and called the country’s forces a “shitty army”.
One of Russia’s best-known entrepreneurs, Mr Tinkov founded Tinkoff Bank in 2006.
He has been based outside Russia in recent years.
“The generals, waking up with a hangover, realised that they had a shitty army,” Mr Tinkov, 54, said in a post on Instagram.
“And how will the army be good, if everything else in the country is shit and mired in nepotism, sycophancy and servility?”
The businessman, who has been targeted by Western sanctions, added: “I don’t see a SINGLE beneficiary of this crazy war! Innocent people and soldiers are dying.”
Switching to English, Mr Tinkov, who stepped down as chairman of Tinkoff Bank in 2020, said: “Dear ‘collective West’ please give Mr Putin a clear exit to save his face and stop this massacre. Please be more rational and humanitarian”.
He posted his statement on the 55th day of Moscow’s military campaign, with Russian forces unleashing a major new offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
“Ninety per cent of Russians ARE against this war!” Mr Tinkov said.
“Of course there are morons who draw Z but 10 per cent of any country are morons,” he said, referring to what has become a Russian symbol of support for the war.
He added that Kremlin officials were “in shock” that they and their children would no longer be able to spend their summer holidays on the Mediterranean.
“Businessmen are trying to rescue what’s left of their property,” he added.
Russian authorities have sought to muffle dissent over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, impose prison terms of up to 15 years for publishing “fake news” about the army.
Tinkoff Bank said in a statement it would not comment on Mr Tinkov’s “private opinion”, saying he no longer took decisions regarding operations across companies under the Tinkoff brand.
“He is not a Tinkoff employee, has not been in Russia for a long time and has been dealing with health issues in recent years,” the statement added.
MARIUPOL FACING DEFEAT: ‘OUTNUMBERED 10-1’
A commander in the strategic port city of Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal power plant has issued a desperate plea for help, saying his marines are “maybe facing our last days, if not hours”.
“The enemy is outnumbering us 10 to one,” Serhiy Volyna from the 36th Separate Marine Brigade said on Wednesday.
Russia earlier on Wednesday called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to “immediately” lay down their arms in a new ultimatum.
But Ukrainian forces continue to fight in Mariupol, Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, says.
Russian forces are believed to have gradually pushed their way into the city, pinning Ukrainian troops down to giant factories near the port, which are equipped with vast underground tunnels.
Fighter planes and parts have been recently sent to Ukraine to bolster its air force, the Pentagon has revealed, but the number of aircraft or their origin has not been specified.
Ukrainian forces “have available to them more fixed-wing fighter aircraft than they did two weeks ago,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Additional US military aid has also arrived at Ukraine’s borders, Mr Kirby confirmed, including 18 howitzers, 40,000 artillery rounds, 200 armored personnel carriers and 11 helicopters and 100 armoured multi-purpose vehicles.
A handful of European allies have also answered Kyiv’s call to provide Russian-designed Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter aircraft, which Ukraine pilots are capable of flying.
EASTERN UKRAINE OFFENSIVE
Russia says its forces have carried out dozens of air strikes in eastern Ukraine as part of a new offensive in the Donbas region that had been expected for days.
Moscow says the strikes targeted Ukrainian positions in parts of the Donbas as well as in towns close to the eastern frontline.
“We are gradually implementing our plan to liberate the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics,” Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu says, referring to eastern Ukraine’s two rebel regions, which Moscow has recognised as independent states.
Ukraine’s armed forces said fighting had increased throughout Donbas, and the Ministry of Defence reported heavy clashes including near the town of Marinka in the Donetsk region.
Responding to the new Russian push, the US and European Union agreed to increase “Moscow’s international isolation”, during a virtual meeting between US President Joe Biden and European leaders on Tuesday local time.
“We will further tighten our sanctions against Russia and step up financial and security assistance for Ukraine,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
Russia’s defence ministry said that “high-precision air-based missiles” had hit 13 Ukrainian positions in parts of Donbas while other air strikes “hit 60 military assets”, including in towns close to the eastern frontline.
On Tuesday evening, the Ukrainian defence ministry reported its troops had beaten back a Russian attack in the city of Izium, south of the partly blockaded second city of Kharkiv.
It also claimed enemy losses in a Ukrainian counter-attack near the town of Marinka in Donetsk.
In the eastern town of Novodruzhesk, resident Nadya, 65, said “we are bombed everywhere”.
“It’s a miracle that we’re still alive,” she said, her voice trembling.
“We were lying on the ground and waiting. Since February 24 we’ve been sleeping in the cellar.”
Control of Donbas and the besieged southern port of Mariupol would allow Moscow to create a southern corridor to the Crimean peninsula that it annexed in 2014, and deprive Ukraine of much of its coastline and a major revenue resource.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced Russia’s ongoing offensive as he issued calls for a four-day truce to mark Orthodox Holy Week.
“Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance,” the United Nations chief said.
Mr Guterres added that a truce would allow safe passage for civilians to flee the eastern war zone and for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the hardest-hit areas.
“The intense concentration of forces and firepower makes this battle inevitably more violent, bloody and destructive,” he said, calling for a “humanitarian pause” from Holy Thursday until Easter Sunday on April 24.
As fighting raged, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a grim forecast for the warring nations, while also predicting the conflict would drag down the global economy — hitting poorest nations the hardest.
The report predicted Ukraine would suffer a 35 per cent collapse of its economy this year, while Russia’s GDP would drop 8.5 per cent — more than 11 points below the pre-war expectations.
Meanwhile, Russia is expelling 36 diplomats from three European countries in a tit-for-tat move sparked by its military operation in Ukraine.
The Russian foreign ministry declared 15 diplomats from the Netherlands “persona non grata” and gave them two weeks to leave.
Moscow gave the same deadline to the embassy staff of Belgium for its decision to kick out 21 Russian envoys last month.
HAUNTING IMAGES OF NEW GRAVES IN UKRAINE
Drone footage taken on Monday shows dozens of new graves in the Ukrainian town of Irpin.
At least three new rows of graves, most labelled with a date of death after February 24 or the day when Russia invaded Ukraine, were seen by Reuters reporters.
A family that came to bury a loved one on Monday said that their relative was killed by Russian forces in Irpin.
A police official told media Ukrainian investigators have examined 269 bodies in Irpin since the town was taken back from Russian forces in late March.
Images of the dead civilians in towns such as Bucha and Irpin near Kyiv have shocked the world.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he has created a special mechanism to investigate Russian “crimes” in Ukraine, which includes “national and international experts”.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has said there are “clear indications” of Russian war crimes near Kyiv.
Moscow denies this, with President Vladimir Putin accusing Ukraine of staging the civilian deaths.
RUSSIA STRIKES 16 LOCATIONS ACROSS UKRAINE
Air strikes killed at least seven people in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv on Monday, as Russia pounded targets across the country and massed forces for an expected all-out assault in the east.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had hit 16 military targets at various locations across Ukraine.
Russia’s army said it had also destroyed a large depot of foreign weapons recently delivered to Ukraine near the western city of Lviv.
Russian planes in the morning struck a Ukrainian logistics centre holding “large batches of foreign weaponry, delivered to Ukraine over the past six days by the United States and European countries”, and “destroyed” them, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
Konashenkov also said a store of ammunition was destroyed in the Kyiv region. Russia’s army says it has destroyed 16 Ukrainian military sites in total on Monday local time, including fuel and ammunition depots and a factory for repairing Tochka-U tactical missiles.
Following the attack on Lviv, black smoke billowed from the gutted roof of a car repair shop in the northwest of the city as air raid sirens wailed.
“Fires were set off as a result of the strikes. They are still being put out. The facilities were severely damaged,” Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytsky said on social media.
“A child was among the victims,” Mr Kozytsky said on social media.
Heavy bouts of shelling also resumed in the country’s second city of Kharkiv on Monday morning local time, according to an AFP reporter on the ground.
The shelling comes a day after at least five people were killed and 20 wounded during a string of strikes in the city just 21km from the Russian border on Sunday.
Twenty-one-year-old Lviv resident Andrei said he was sleeping when the sirens began wailing at about 8am (0600 GMT).
“I slept through the first three strikes, but then when the last one hit, it was like my windows were about to break, and the furniture moved,” he told AFP.
Lviv, near Ukraine’s border with Poland, so far been spared being embroiled in the worst of the fighting sparked by Russia’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbour nearly two months ago.
The city instead has become of refuge for people displaced from the war-scarred east and at the start of the fighting hosted several Western embassies transferred from Kyiv.
Moscow vowed to increase strikes on the capital in response to what Russian military officials claimed were Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil and the sinking of the Moskva warship.
“Five powerful missile strikes at once on the civilian infrastructure of the old European city of Lviv,” Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
“The Russians continue barbarically attacking Ukrainian cities from the air, cynically declaring to the whole world their ‘right’ to kill Ukrainians,” he said.
The head of Ukraine’s national railways Alexander Kamyshin said on social media that some of the site’s infrastructure had been damaged and there would likely be delays to services, but no passengers or staff were injured.
AFP journalists saw black smoke billowing from the gutted roof of a car repair shop above railway tracks in the northwest of the city, around four kilometres from the city centre.
Lviv in late March was hit by series of Russian strikes that targeted a fuel depot and injured five people.
On March 18, bombardments hit an aircraft repair factory near Lviv’s airport. No injuries were reported.
Russian cruise missiles on March 13 targeted a major military base about 40km north west of Lviv, killing at least 35 people and injuring 134.
FIRST IMAGE OF SUNKEN RUSSIAN CRUISER
The first photo believed to be of the damaged Russian cruiser Moskva has emerged online.
The warship had been leading Russia’s naval effort in the seven-week conflict in Ukraine, playing a central role in the siege of the port city of Mariupol.
It sank last Thursday after an explosion and fire that Ukraine claimed was caused by a missile strike – while Russia said damage by exploding ammunition had caused the ship to “lose its balance” as it was being towed to port.
A senior Pentagon official however said the cruiser was hit by two Ukrainian missiles before it sank in the Black Sea, calling it a “big blow” for Moscow.
“We assess that they hit it with two Neptunes,” the official said, referring to Ukrainian anti-ship cruise missiles.
He said the strikes were believed to have caused casualties, but that it was “difficult to assess how many,” adding that the United States had observed survivors being recovered by other Russian vessels in the area.
Russia has said the Moskva’s crew was evacuated to nearby ships.
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