Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin fires nuclear-capable missile that could reach US days after CIA chief’s visit

Moment Putin launches nuclear-capable missile in warning to WestRussia 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.”Watch: Moment Putin launches nuclear-capable missile in warning to WestMoment Putin launches nuclear-capable missile in warning to WestHarriette Boucher29 August 2026 07:52Russia tests nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile days after Ratcliffe visitRussia'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.“The Strategic Missile Forces practised the procedure for redeploying a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile launch battery to a remote area, preparing for and conducting the launch,” the statement on Friday 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.The Kremlin has said he did not meet president Vladimir Putin during the visit.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told TASS news agency that Ratcliffe's visit involved "contacts between security services."Stuti Mishra29 August 2026 07:23Russia's petrol output falls to 70% of demand after Ukrainian drone strikes on refineriesRussia'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 Reuters.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. Stuti Mishra29 August 2026 07:15Ukraine strikes Ozon warehouse in Russia's Rostov regionUkrainian 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.Stuti Mishra29 August 2026 06:46Putin thinks Trump is ‘weakened’ by Iran war, says reportVladimir 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.While the details of CIA director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow this week remain elusive, The Washington Post has reported that the meeting cautioned Moscow against banking on the US president being distracted by conflict with Tehran to escalate action against Ukraine.Read more here:Adam Withnall29 August 2026 06:00Putin wants to avoid direct Nato confrontation, Western officials sayVladimir Putin wants to avoid a direct military confrontation with Nato, despite increasingly hostile rhetoric aimed at the UK and other allies over their support for Ukraine, Western officials have said, according to BBC.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said recent warnings from Moscow, including that UK forces could be targeted or that Russian weapons factories could be hit, were consistent with Russia's long-standing military doctrine of pressuring the West rather than signalling any new threat.They said Russia was likely to continue "hybrid activity" short of direct military action, including cyber-attacks, sabotage and assassination attempts, aimed at breaking Western resolve over Ukraine.The officials also said Russia was losing 6,000 more soldiers a month, killed or wounded, than it could recruit, though there was no indication the Kremlin planned mass mobilisation.(AP)Stuti Mishra29 August 2026 05:30Zelensky says US gave Kyiv information about meetings in MoscowUkraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the United States had given Kyiv information about a number of meetings in Moscow over the last few days."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," Mr Zelensky said on Telegram, without going ⁠into detail on who was at the meetings."I thank them for the information and for the necessary tone of the conversation with Russia," he added, again without elaborating. The Wall Street ‌Journal reported on Wednesday that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had travelled to Moscow to warn Russia off ⁠any attack on a Nato member.The Kremlin dismissed the report, while US president Donald Trump said Russian president Vladimir Putin would not attack a Nato country, playing down media reports on Ratcliffe's trip. Reuters reported ‌that Ratcliffe had raised the possibility of a Russian operation against ‌a Nato member during the ⁠meeting, although it was unclear ⁠whether that was the primary purpose of the trip. ‌The talks also covered Russia's support for ‌Iran, one source told ReutersStuti Mishra29 August 2026 04:52Serbia secures further sanctions waiver for Russian-owned NIS oil firmSerbia has secured a further sanctions waiver from the United States for its Russian-owned NIS oil firm until 30 September, energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic wrote ⁠on Instagram on Friday.The waiver granted by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control will allow NIS, which operates Serbia's only oil refinery, to continue importing crude oil until the sale of a Russian majority stake in the company to Hungarian oil and gas company MOL."The extended licence allows us to continue supplying (the market), while at the same ⁠time working on a long-term solution for NIS," Djedovic Handanovic said.OFAC imposed sanctions on NIS last October as part of wider measures targeting Russia's energy sector over the war in Ukraine, and demanded divestment of the combined 56 per cent stake held by Gazprom Neft and Gazprom. The waiver is crucial for Serbia as NIS refinery covers around 80 per cent of the country's demand.Djedovic Handanovic said negotiations between MOL and Gazprom Neft are in their final phase."The new licence extension is a signal that there is progress and a willingness to ensure the additional necessary time to complete this complex transaction," she said without elaborating.OFAC has granted ⁠NIS several sanctions waivers allowing it to import crude via ⁠Croatia's Janaf pipeline while MOL completes the acquisition after signing a provisional ‌agreement in January.The Serbian government owns 29.9 per cent of NIS, ‌with the remainder held by small shareholders and employees.Stuti Mishra29 August 2026 04:16Russian drones batter Ukraine's Kyiv region, hitting apartments and warehouses for a second dayRussian forces on Friday resumed their drone barrage of Ukraine’s Kyiv region, hitting more than a dozen apartment buildings and storage depots in a second straight day of aerial attacks, officials said.Prolonged air raids in Kyiv on Thursday essentially locked down the Ukrainian capital for 15 hours, the Foreign Ministry said, choking the economy and severely disrupting civilian life more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Even longer alerts are a daily reality in regions closer to the front line, the ministry said.Russian drone and missile attacks are also taking aim at the power grid in what Ukrainian officials say is an annual campaign to “weaponize winter.” In Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on the Black Sea, where glide bombs a day earlier forced a combined heat and power plant to shut down, officials predicted a winter of extended outages and told people to move elsewhere if they could.Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 August 2026 03:00What head of CIA told Russian counterpart on secretive visit to MoscowCIA Director John Ratcliffe secretly met FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov in Russia. Ratcliffe presented evidence of heavy Russian losses caused by Ukraine's drone mastery. He urged Moscow to begin serious peace negotiations with Ukraine to end the conflict. The CIA chief raised concerns over potential Russian actions against Nato and its support for Iran. Moscow threatened to target British military assets after the UK granted Ukraine missile technology. Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 August 2026 02:00