Russian invasion of Ukraine will spark World War 3, Kiev fears as Putin fires hypersonic nuke just 22… – The Sun

A FULL-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine will spark World War 3, Kiev fears as Moscow test fires its hypersonic nuke missile.

Tensions in Eastern Europe are at boiling point with Vladimir Putin amassing around 100,000 troops close to the Ukrainian border.

5

5

Yuliia Laputina, Ukraine's minister for veterans affairs, said Russian aggression would spread across the region if her country was invaded.

She told Sky News: "If Russia will invade you know, you should also take care about the Balkans.

"What Russians are doing now in Serbia - they try to provoke a situation in the Balkans.

"But we also take into account [the beginning of] World War Three."

On the subject of WW3, she added: "Yeah. Because geopolitically, it looks like this is a possible scenario. So we should pay attention to the Ukrainian issue because of the security of the continent.

"This - the spreading of war in case of Russian invasion to Ukraine - will be much wider than Ukraine."

The minister, who previously served in Ukraine's equivalent of MI5, said her country's 400,000-strong veterans - aged from 20 to 60-years-old - would be willing to fight in a war against Russia if needed.

This comes as Russia staged a new test of its 6,670 mph hypersonic Zircon missile.

The lethal weapon was seen on video fired under a cloak of darkness from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the White Sea hitting a coastal target at the Chizha training ground.

The unstoppable Zircon is due to be deployed imminently, first with the Russian Northern Fleet which conducts operations in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, reports say.

Russia had issued NOTAM-warnings (Notice to Airmen) relating to rocket tests in both the White and Barents seas.

Moscow boasts the Mach-9 capable missile can evade all current Western defences.

The Barents Observer highlighted that satellite images show a suspected new storage and maintenance facility for the Zircon at Okolnaya Bay, in the Arctic Murmansk region.

5

"The trials of the Zircon shipborne missile system are successfully coming to an end, said chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov .

These trials proved the possibility of launching this hypersonic missile from both a surface ship and a nuclear-powered submarine from the submerged position.

Russian President Putin has ordered the Zircon missile to be deployed next year by the Russian Navy boasting that it istruly unparalleled in the world.

Most recently, therewas a successful testof the hypersonic weapon from a frigate in the White Sea on November 18.

A month earliertheZirconwas fired from a submarine for the first time.

The Kremlin has started full-scale production of the missile at a top-secret plant near Moscow, it has been reported.

In Voronezh region, which borders Ukraine, Russia was conducting tactical exercises with live firing , according to Interfax.

Some of the drills are just 22 miles from the border of the rebel-held Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine.

The West has expressed deep concern over the number of Russian forces in Voronezh region.

Separately, in Orenburg region dozens of rocket systems staged a raid in the steppe targeting a simulated enemy.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has insisted that her country has no aggressive intentions.

We have repeatedly said that on our sovereign territory we have every right to move military units at our own discretion, she said.

But she claimed that NATO is doing everything to destabilise the situation on the continent and undermine the foundations of European security."

5

5

The Zircon hypersonic missile

Russia's Zircon missile - which can be fitted with a nuclear warhead - is designed to cruise at more than five times the speed of sound.

It has a range of up to 620miles and can be fired from ships and from submarines.

The state-of-the-art weapon is too fast for current US anti-missile systems.

In November, the rocket was test fired from a ship in the White Sea.

It successfully destroyed its target located 400km away.

In October, Moscow launched the terrifying missile from a submarine.

The weapon travelled at speeds of over Mach 8 - eight times the speed of sound.

Originally posted here:

Russian invasion of Ukraine will spark World War 3, Kiev fears as Putin fires hypersonic nuke just 22... - The Sun