President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. File | Photo credit: Reuters

Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session on Friday (22 November 2024) as security was tightened after Russia deployed a new ballistic missile that threatened to escalate the nearly three-year war.

NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks next Tuesday (November 26), the alliance said, following a request from Ukraine. The meeting will be held at ambassadorial level and will most likely address the new missile threat.

Russian troops also struck Sumy with Shahed drones overnight, killing two people and injuring 12 others, the regional administration said Friday morning. The attack targeted a residential area of ​​the city.

of Ukraine Sigh The press, citing Sumy regional chief Volodymyr Artiukh, said that the Russians used Shaheds filled with shrapnel elements for the first time in the region. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” Mr. Artiukh was quoted as saying Sigh.

Separately, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky arrived on a visit to Kiev. He posted a photo from the Kiev train station on his X account on Friday morning.

“I’m interested in how the Ukrainians are coping with the bombing, how Czech projects are working on the ground, and how to better target international aid in the coming months. I will discuss all of this here,” Lipavsky wrote.

Three Ukrainian lawmakers confirmed that the previously scheduled parliamentary session was canceled due to the continued threat of Russian missile attacks targeting government buildings in the city center.

Not only is the parliament closed, “there was also a recommendation to limit the activity of all commercial offices and NGOs remaining in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said MP Mykyta Poturaiev, who added that this is not the first time such a threat has been received.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office continued to work in accordance with standard security measures, a spokesman said.

Russia launched a new medium-range ballistic missile on Thursday in response to Kiev’s use of longer-range US and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday in a speech.

It hit a missile factory in Dnipro, central Ukraine. Putin warned that US air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at 10 times the speed of sound and which he called Oreshnik – Russian for hazelnut.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate also released details. The missile is said to have been launched from the 4th “Kapustin Yar” missile test range in Russia’s Astrakhan region and flew 15 minutes before hitting Dnipro. The missile had six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. The maximum speed reached by the rocket was 11 Machs.

Test launches of a similar missile were carried out at the range in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said.

The Pentagon has confirmed that Russia’s missile is an experimental new type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.