Ukraine war: Zelensky says Patriot could ‘close our skies’ but just gathering dust

Peace talks on the war in Ukraine could possibly start this winter, Donald Tusk said on Tuesday as Warsaw seeks to play a leading role in ending the conflict.

Poland has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since Russia’s 2022 invasion, and prime minister Tusk pledged to be heavily involved in any talks when it takes up the European Union’s rotating presidency on 1 January.

The silent black-and-white surveillance camera video of the Russian missile attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro was brief but chilling: six huge fireballs pierced the darkness and slammed into the ground at astonishing speed.

Within hours of the 21 November attack on the military facility, Putin took the rare step of speaking on national TV to boast about the new, hypersonic missile. He warned the West that its next use could be against Ukraine’s Nato allies who allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia.

Putin said the missile was called the “Oreshnik” — Russian for “hazelnut tree.”

Mr Trump’s comprehensive victory in the US election, which came off the back of his promises to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, has brought into sharp relief the difficult situation on the frontline for Kyiv.

Russian forces have continued to make gains in the eastern region of Donetsk, advancing along several fronts towards the city of Pokrovsk, a linchpin of the wider area’s defence.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine needs 10-12 more Patriot air defence systems that he said would fully protect its skies, asking his allies to not let the systems “gather dust”.

His plea came after a Russian missile killed at least four people and injured 20 more, including a child, in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Signalling his frustration, Mr Zelensky said: “I sometimes do not get it… Everyone understands that an additional 10-12 Patriot systems for Ukraine will ensure life for us and make the war for (Russian president Vladimir) Putin meaningless”.

“We repeat again and again that air defences should save lives, not gather dust at storage bases,” he said.

Mr Zelensky urged allies to use frozen Russian funds to pay for more Patriots as Ukraine braces for another winter of Russian attacks on its devastated power system. “Please take the money from Russian assets – 30 billion it will cost. But it will fully close our skies,” he said, without specifying the currency.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has consistently asked its allies to supply more advanced air-defence systems.

The US State Department has approved the potential sale to Ukraine of F-16 sustainment services and related equipment for $266.4m (£208m), the Pentagon said.

The principal contractors will be Sabena, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and Pratt and Whitney, the Pentagon said in a statement yesterday.

President Joe Biden is rushing out billions of dollars more in military aid before US support for Kyiv’s defences is thrown into question under the new administration.

The US has sent a total of $62bn in military aid since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and officials from the outgoing administration have said more help is on the way.

Close Putin aide and senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Beijing for two days of talks with Chinese leaders, Russian news agencies reported.

The visit by Mr Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s powerful Security Council, is the latest signal of the deepening relationship between Moscow and Beijing. Both sides have pledged to intensify a “no limits” partnership proclaimed in February 2022 just ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian defence minister Andrei Belousov visited Beijing in October, with both sides saying his meetings focused on “substantive” defence and military talks to bolster ties.

Mr Medvedev, a former Russian president, has taken on the role of one of Moscow’s most vociferous hawks in justifying Moscow’s Ukraine invasion.

Britain announced a new round of sanctions on Monday, accusing Russia of supporting its war efforts in Ukraine and fostering corruption through the illicit gold trade.

According to an official notice, the government added one new designation under the Russia sanctions regime, one under the Democratic Republic of the Congo regime and three under the global anti-corruption system.

Following Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Britain and other major Western economies banned the import of new Russian gold in 2022. Russia has since found new outlets for the gold it produces.

Last week, Britain and the United States said that they had broken a global money laundering conspiracy used by wealthy Russians to circumvent sanctions.

An overnight missile attack has damaged an industrial facility and scores of cars in Russia, officials said. The industrial facility is in the southwestern Russian port of Taganrog.

“According to preliminary information, no one was hurt,” the acting governor of Rostov region Yuri Slyusar said on his Telegram channel.

Russian officials rarely disclose the scale of damage and losses in Ukrainian strikes on its land.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said his country is hosting dozens of Russian nuclear weapons and will prepare facilities for the planned deployment of Moscow’s newest hypersonic ballistic missile.

His remarks came after he and president Vladimir Putin signed a treaty last week that gave security guarantees to Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons to help repel any aggression.

The pact follows Moscow’s revision of its nuclear doctrine, which for the first time placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella amid the tensions with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.

A drone hit and severely damaged an official vehicle of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the road to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine yesterday.

There were no casualties and the UN team is safe, said Rafael Grossi, director general of the nuclear watchdog. “I condemn in the most firm terms this attack on the IAEA staff,” Mr Grossi said. “We call, once again, as we have done it before, for the utmost restraint.”

Mr Grossi said attacking a nuclear power plant is a no-go and attacking those working to prevent a nuclear accident during the military conflict is “even more unacceptable.” He made no suggestion of who might have been responsible.

A picture posted alongside his statement showed a vehicle with clear IAEA markings, its rear portion badly damaged.

While it was not immediately clear which side in the conflict fired the drone, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said it was a “deliberate” attack by Russia.

“This attack clearly demonstrated how Russia treats anything related to international law, global institutions, and safety. “The Russians could not have been unaware of their target; they knew exactly what they were doing and acted deliberately,” he wrote on X.

He called for “a clear and decisive response” from the IAEA and other international bodies.