Russia’s long-range air force to get new hypersonic missiles

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Russia’s long-range air forces are to be refitted with new wing-borne hypersonic missiles, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing the force’s commanding officer.

“In the interests of long-range aviation, the development and supply of the entire range of aviation weapons, including new cruise hypersonic missiles, is being carried out,” Interfax cited the commander, Sergei Kobylash, as saying in an interview with the Russian defence ministry’s newspaper.

Russia’s fleet of long-range bombers are part of its nuclear triad, and are capable of launching both nuclear and conventional missiles.

In Other Developments:

FIGHTING

Three Russian military personnel were killed early on Monday when a Ukrainian drone attacked a base in Russia’s Saratov region, Russian news agencies reported, citing the defence ministry.

* Russia on Sunday launched more than 10 rocket attacks on the Kupiansk district in the Kharkiv region, shelled more than 25 towns along the Kupiansk-Lyman frontline, and in Zaporizhzhia hit nearly 20 towns, Ukraine’s top military command said. Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports.

* Ukrainians will create their own Christmas miracle by showing they remain unbowed despite Russian attacks that have plunged millions into darkness, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a defiant message.

* Pope Francis called for an end to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts in his Christmas message, saying the world was suffering from a “famine of peace”.

* Russian-supplied Iskander tactical missile systems, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and S-400 air defence systems have been deployed to Belarus and are prepared to perform their intended tasks, a senior Belarusian defence ministry official said on Sunday.

* A top Ukrainian presidential aide called for the “liquidation” of Iranian factories making drones and missiles, as well as the arrest of their suppliers, as Kyiv accused Tehran of planning to supply more weapons to Russia.

* Blasts were heard at Russia’s Engels air base, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the Ukraine frontlines, Ukrainian and Russian media reported on Monday. There was no immediate official confirmation. The air base was hit on Dec. 5 in what Russia said was an Ukrainian drone attack.

QUOTES

“Russia has lost everything it could this year … I know darkness will not prevent us from leading the occupiers to new defeats,” Zelenskiy said in an evening video address on Christmas Day.