NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is convening a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council next week, a spokesman said on Friday, after Russia deployed a new missile in Ukraine in what was widely seen as a dangerous new escalation.
Moscow’s use of the experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile in a strike on the major Ukrainian city of Dnipro will be the focus of Tuesday’s meeting, the NATO spokesman said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said six non-nuclear warheads hit the industrial city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine on Thursday morning.
Putin threatened to use the new weapon, called Oreshnik, in more attacks. In a video address, he said the missile travels at hypersonic speed and cannot be intercepted.
The Russian president said the use of the weapon was in response to the recent decision by the US and other Western allies to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons to hit Russian territory.
“This escalation, provoked by the West, has led to the regional conflict in Ukraine taking on global dimensions,” he said.
NATO’s consultations in Brussels are being organized following a request from Kiev and are to take place at ambassador level.
The NATO-Ukraine Council met for the first time last year at a summit in Lithuania.
The new body was created for exchanges in crisis situations and seeks to enable closer cooperation until the conditions for Ukraine’s admission to NATO are met. These include an end to Russia’s full-scale invasion as well as domestic reforms in Ukraine.
