New territory continues to be occupied by the Russian military in Ukraine as the war has escalated in recent days following the use of US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles this week and Russia responding with a change in its nuclear doctrine and the use of the new Oreshnik hypersonic missile .

Russia’s defense ministry said its forces had captured the settlement of Novodmytrivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, with Defense Minister Andrei Belusov citing an “accelerated advance” by the Russian military.

Ukraine’s military has made no mention of the village, north of the central city of Kurakove, but late in the evening the general staff said it was among eight villages Russian forces were trying to capture.

Russian Defense Minister Belousov appeared in a video posted online visiting a command post in Ukraine manned by Russia’s “North” military group, where he handed out medals of valor.

“This work we’ve done here now has blown away the best [ουκρανικές] units. Now the advance has accelerated. We have thwarted their entire 2025 campaign,” he said.

Ukraine’s general staff said the Kurakove sector of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front was engulfed in heavy fighting. Ten of the 35 armed conflicts in the sector are still raging, it said.

Global concern

At the same time, yesterday’s statements by the Russian president, Vadimir Putin, that his country has a stockpile of powerful new “ready-to-use” missiles; a day after his country launched a new ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro have sparked global concern.

The Russian president said on Friday that Russia will continue to test the Oreshnik hypersonic missile it launched in Ukraine a day earlier and will begin mass production of the new system, as, he stressed, “the development of such systems is vital to counter of new threats”.

He also announced that testing of the missile would continue, even in combat conditions, and that despite the fact that it is a unique technology, other countries may eventually develop similar weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on world leaders to give a “serious response” so that Putin “feels the real consequences of his actions”. His country has also asked Western partners for updated air defense systems, he added.

The coming weeks, however, will tell whether Oreshnik is a one-off message or a new tactic.