Russia has successfully tested a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the US, its defence ministry has said. The missile, which has a range of more than 6,700km, was fired from the Arkhangelsk region in the country's northwest and reached its designated target at the Kura test site in Russia's far eastern Kamchatka region. It comes just days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe had travelled to Moscow to warn Russia off any attack on a NATO member.
The Kremlin has said he did not meet president Vladimir Putin during the visit. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered his military to increase its long-range drone strikes against Russia to 1,000 per day, up from around 300 currently. He also said the US had given Kyiv information about a number of meetings in Moscow over the last few days.
In a Telegram post, he wrote: "Today we received information from the American side about the meetings in Moscow that took place these days. There were a number of meetings there.” Russia's defence ministry said it successfully tested a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile, fired from the Arkhangelsk region in the country's northwest, days after CIA director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced visit to Moscow. The missile, launched from a mobile platform, reached its designated target at the Kura test site in Russia's far eastern Kamchatka region, with a range of more than 6,700km, the ministry said.
Mr Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow on 25 August for talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Naryshkin, with several US media outlets reporting the visit was intended in part to warn Russia against an attack on a Nato member. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told TASS news agency that Ratcliffe's visit involved "contacts between security services." Russia's petrol production fell to about 70 per cent of domestic demand by late August after a wave of Ukrainian drone strikes forced major refineries offline, two industry sources told . Current output stands at around 80,000 tons a day against demand of about 115,000 tons, the sources said, after drones struck and halted refineries in Perm, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl over the past week.
Regional authorities have reimposed restrictions on fuel sales, including limits per customer and schedules based on vehicle registration plates. The shortage has forced Russia to increase imports, with about 270,000 tons of seaborne petroleum expected from Asia in August alongside supplies from Belarus. Ukrainian forces struck an Ozon warehouse and other sites across the southern Russian region of Rostov Oblast overnight, the Kyiv Independent reported.
A drone hit an Ozon logistics facility in the city of Rostov-on-Don, causing a small fire that was quickly put out, the Russian e-commerce giant said in a statement. "We have temporarily suspended operations at the facility to allow emergency services to inspect the area and ensure that it is completely safe," Ozon said. Vladimir Putin believes Donald Trump has been “weakened” by the war in Iran and this could allow the Russian president to ramp up aggression in Europe, US intelligence has indicated.
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