Live/ Russia successfully tests an intercontinental ballistic missile. Ukraine attacks shipyard and damages Russian ship in Crimea

Russia announced today that it has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear warheads from a fourth-generation nuclear submarine.

The launch of the ‘Boulava’ missile, the first in about a year, comes just days after Russia revoked its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

“The new strategic nuclear submarine ‘Emperor Alexander III’ successfully fired the intercontinental ballistic missile ‘Boulava'” from the White Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The missile reached its target located at a test range on the Kamchatka peninsula, in the far east of Russia, at the “scheduled time,” said the same source, cited by AFP.

With a range of 8,000 kilometers and 12 meters in length, the ‘Boulava’ (SS-NX-30 in NATO classification) can be equipped with 10 nuclear warheads.

This Saturday was marked by a new visit by the president of the European Commission to kyiv, the sixth time since the start of the war. Ursula von der Leyen met with the Ukrainian leader, highlighting the country’s “excellent progress” in the accession process to the European Union and guaranteeing that “they will continue to make Russia pay for its aggression.” For his part, President Zelensky assured that Ukraine “will be fully prepared to start talks on accession to the EU.”

These are the main highlights of what happened in the last few hours:

• • On a day marked by the visit of the president of the European Commission to kyiv – the sixth since the start of the war – the leader of Ukraine claimed to have received “Positive signs on progress towards the start of EU accession negotiations”.

  • The Ukrainian Air Force revealed that with air defense systems it was possible to intercept three Iskander-K missiles launched by Russia towards the Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava regions.
  • Ukrainian Special Operations Forces Commander Viktor Khorenko was removed from office at the request of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. “I don’t know the reasons. I found out through the media. I spoke with the commander in chief [Valerii Zaluzhnyi]which I could not explain either,” Khorenko said in statements to Ukrainska Pravda.
  • Explosions were heard on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and authorities issued an airstrike warning. Ukrainian authorities claimed responsibility for the attack. admitting to crashing into a shipyard in Kerch.
  • The Ukrainian president rejected that the war is in a “stalemate,” as a Ukrainian general told The Economist magazine. Volodymyr Zelensky also rejected reports that US officials were pushing for peace talks with Russia. It is not the right time to negotiate with Russia, he said, denying that Western leaders are pressuring him to change his mind.
  • Ukraine has formally accused Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, of “promote Russian armed aggression” against Ukraine It is “deny the war crimes committed by the invaders”. The accusation, the Ukrinform agency reports, was formally presented by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU).
  • The president of Türkiye assured that It will attempt to facilitate the process of parliamentary ratification of Sweden’s membership in NATO.. Erdogan promises to try to facilitate the process “as much as possible,” but noted that he believes Stockholm has not yet taken sufficient measures when it comes to Kurdish militants.