KYIV: Ukraine destroyed one of Russia’s intermediate-range Oreshnik missiles in a special operation in summer 2023, the head of the SBU security service said on Friday.
Vasyl Maliuk told reporters the operation was carried out jointly by SBU, GUR military intelligence, and foreign intelligence, adding that it was “100 percent successful.”
Reuters was unable to independently verify the report.
Russia first used the Oreshnik — hazel tree in Russian — missile against Ukraine in November 2024, targeting a defense enterprise in Dnipro, more than a year after Kyiv’s purported destruction of one of the missiles.
“We can say briefly and concisely that one of the three Oreshniks was successfully destroyed on their (Russian) territory at Kapustin Yar...,” Maliuk said during a briefing chaired by President Volodymyr Zelensky and also attended by Ukraine’s foreign minister, the head of foreign intelligence and other officials.
Maliuk gave no details of how the operation was conducted.
Ukraine’s intelligence officials said Russia produced three Oreshniks this year and planned to double annual production to six.
Zelensky said 25 companies were involved in Oreshnik production and urged Ukraine’s Western partners to impose sanctions on them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Oreshnik is impossible to intercept and has destructive power comparable to a nuclear weapon, though Western experts have questioned these assertions. Putin said in June Russia was stepping up production but gave no details.
Oreshnik missiles featured in joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises last month.
This week Belarus, a key ally of Russia, confirmed it would deploy the Oreshnik missile system on its territory, which borders Ukraine, in December.
Ukraine destroyed one Oreshnik missile in Russia in summer 2023, SBU says
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Ukraine destroyed one Oreshnik missile in Russia in summer 2023, SBU says
- Russia first used the Oreshnik missile against Ukraine in November 2024
- “We can say briefly and concisely that one of the three Oreshniks was successfully destroyed” Maliuk said
Greek coast guard search for 15 after migrant boat found adrift
- The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were on Monday searching for 15 people who fell into the water from a migrant boat that was found drifting off the coast of Crete with 17 bodies on board.
The 17 fatalities, all of them men, were discovered on Saturday on the craft, which was taking on water and partially deflated, some 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) southwest of the island.
Post-mortem examinations were being carried out to determine how they died but Greek public television channel ERT suggested they may have suffered from hypothermia or dehydration.
A Greek coast guard spokeswoman told AFP that two survivors reported that “15 people fell in the water” after the motor cut out on Thursday, then the vessel drifted for two days.
At the time, Crete and much of the rest of Greece was battered by heavy rain and storms.
The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water.
The vessel had 34 people on board and had left the Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday, the Greek port authorities said. Most of those who died came from Sudan and Egypt.
It was initially spotted by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship on Saturday, triggering a search that included ships and aircraft from the Greek coast guard and the European Union border agency Frontex.
Migrants have been trying to reach Crete from Libya for the last year, as a way of entering the European Union. But the Mediterranean crossing is perilous.
In Brussels, the EU’s 27 members on Monday backed a significant tightening of immigration policy, including the concept of returning failed asylum-seekers to “return hubs” outside the bloc.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
Greece’s conservative government has also toughened its migration policy, suspending asylum claims for three months, particularly those coming to Crete from Libya.
