Ukraine and NATO to hold emergency meeting over Russia's use of new ballistic missile

Ukraine and NATO will hold an emergency meeting over Russia's use of a new ballistic missile to strike the Dnipro River.

At a joint press conference with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said that Russia's use of the new weapon poses a threat to transatlantic security.

"We initiated a meeting in the NATO-Ukraine format. We already have a date - Tuesday, November 26. By this time, we will try to collect evidence as much as possible, conduct research to present our vision of both the consequences and the nature of the weapon that struck the allies in a more substantive way," Sibiga said.

According to the minister, the main issue at the meeting will be strengthening Ukraine's air defense.

"We will raise the issue of limiting Russia's ability to produce this type of weapon and reducing the capabilities of the Russian defense industry, which continues to grow despite all the sanctions. This is a fact," he said.

Sibiga emphasized that Ukraine hopes for concrete and meaningful results after the meeting.

Earlier, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said that Russia launched a ballistic missile from the Kedr complex on November 21. The flight time of the missile from the moment it was launched from Astrakhan region to the moment it hit the Dnipro River was 15 minutes. The missile was equipped with six warheads, each of which was equipped with six submunitions. The speed on the final section of the trajectory was more than Mach 11, or 13.585 km/h.

Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkänen said that NATO and the European Union must step up their game to defend themselves against hybrid threats and protect undersea cables from attack.

"NATO and the EU have to do much more to protect this critical infrastructure," Hakkänen told Politico after the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, adding that the topic was discussed during the meeting.

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