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Kyiv's neighbours on alert after Oreshnik strike
Summary
A look back at the security picture on 27 November 2024, shaped by the Dnipro missile strike and reactions from London and Budapest in the preceding days.
What was the security mood in the region on 27 November 2024? It was shaped by several developments in the days before, each pointing to a widening sense of risk around the war in Ukraine.
On 21 November 2024, Russia struck Dnipro with a projectile that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was a new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile. That confirmed earlier reports from the United States and other western officials, who had said Russia used an intermediate-range missile. Initial reports had misidentified it as an RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
Reactions in London and Budapest
The same day, Russia's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Andrey Kelin, said the UK was now "directly involved" in the war. He was referring to Ukraine's use, the previous day, of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles against targets inside Russia.
Also on 21 November 2024, Hungary announced it was deploying a missile defence system on its border with Ukraine. Budapest said the threat of escalation with Russia was now "greater than ever".
Continuing strikes on civilians
The conventional pattern of attacks continued alongside these developments. On 22 November 2024, a Russian drone attack on civilian infrastructure in Sumy killed two people and injured 12 others.
Taken together, these reports describe the backdrop to 27 November 2024: a new missile type used against a Ukrainian city, sharp rhetoric over western-supplied weapons, a neighbouring NATO-area border state reinforcing its air defences, and no pause in drone attacks on Ukrainian towns.
