Latest news with #90th
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Ukraine rejects claim of Russian forces entering key central region
KYIV – Kyiv's armed forces rejected as 'disinformation' Russia's claim that its ground troops have crossed into Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time, even as prospects for a US-brokered ceasefire remain elusive. Separately, Ukraine and Russia continued testy exchanges over the details of a planned large prisoner swap agreed to during last week's talks in Turkey. The exchange is likely to move ahead in the coming days. Russia's defence ministry said on June 8 that units of its 90th tank regiment had crossed the western administrative border of Donetsk into neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk, in what would be a symbolic milestone in their years-long offensive. In response, Ukraine's southern defence forces said its troops were 'holding their section of the front' while involved in a situation that, while 'tense,' is still contained within the Donetsk region. At issue is the potential advance by Moscow's land forces into one of Ukraine's most populous and industrialised areas. The value of reaching the edge of the region appears mostly symbolic, as Kremlin troops are still more than 140km away from the regional capital of Dnipro, which is also protected by the river of the same name and its system of estuaries. Yet creeping further west could fuel the aggressive posture taken by President Vladimir Putin, who's sticking with maximalist goals in Ukraine while resisting US President Donald Trump's efforts to bring him to the negotiating table. Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, behind Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa, with a pre-war population of about 1 million people. Before the war's start, Dnipropetrovsk was Ukraine's second most populated region after Donetsk, and is the second-largest territory by land mass after the Odesa region. It's home to a major steel industry, coal mining and machine building and is an important logistics hub for the army. A few days ago, Kremlin forces were estimated to be about 2km from the provincial border. The advance takes place at a time Russia has recently seized small amounts of territory in Ukraine's far north-east. It also brings the war onto the soil of two provinces which so far haven't been officially earmarked for annexation by Mr Putin. The Russian leader has demanded that Kyiv surrender all of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces, which Russia illegally annexed in 2022 but doesn't fully control. That's in addition to Crimea, which Kremlin forces illegally annexed in 2014. Russia's slow-going ground war has picked up speed again. Kremlin units in recent days have been advancing closer to the regional capital of Sumy in Ukraine's north-east. Parts of the Sumy region were occupied during Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, and liberated in a Ukrainian counteroffensive. President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Russia's renewed focus on the Sumy region was 'not a surprise' for the Ukrainian army, which is doing its best to repel the advance. Sumy's regional governor said on June 8 there was no need for an emergency evacuation of residents, according to the public broadcaster Suspilne. Ukraine's coordination headquarters for the treatment of POWs on June 8 said 'everything is moving according to plan' to move ahead with a major prisoner swap agreed on June 2, which will also include the return of bodies of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers held in Russia. Russia on June 7 suggested Ukraine was to blame for delays in starting the exchange. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Air Force test-launches unarmed Minuteman III missile
The Air Force conducted a midnight test Wednesday of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. Airmen from Air Force Global Strike Command launched the Minuteman III at 12:01 Pacific time from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It flew about 4,200 miles, at a speed of more than 15,000 miles per hour, to a test site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Sensors at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site there tracked the missile as it approached and collected radar, optical and telemetry data in its terminal phase, to help measure how well the missile performed. That site is operated by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. 'This ICBM test launch underscores the strength of the nation's nuclear deterrent and the readiness of the ICBM leg of the triad,' Global Strike commander Gen. Thomas Bussiere said in a statement. 'This powerful safeguard is maintained by dedicated airmen – missileers, defenders, helicopter operators and the teams who support them – who ensure the security of the nation and its allies.' The missile was randomly selected and came from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, the Air Force said. It was equipped with a Mark 21 High Fidelity Reentry Vehicle, which would typically contain a nuclear payload if a Minuteman III were launched operationally. The service released video of the test a few hours later. The 377th Test and Evaluation Group at Vandenberg oversaw the launch, which took place at the base's Western Test Range. The task force supporting the launch was made up of airmen from all three of the service's missile wings – the 90th at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, the 91st at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, and the 341st at Malmstrom. Maintainers from the 90th and 341st also conducted maintenance for the launch. The Air Force regularly conducts nighttime tests of the Minuteman III, which is more than 50 years old and nearing the end of its life span, to ensure it continues to function safely and as designed. The service has conducted more than 300 such tests, most recently in February. The Air Force's roughly 400 Minuteman III make up the land-based portion of the United States' nuclear triad, along with submarine-launched nuclear missiles and bombers capable of delivering air-launched weapons. Minuteman III is expected to be replaced by a new ICBM, the Northrop Grumman-made LGM-35A Sentinel, sometime in the 2030s. But Sentinel faces multiple challenges. Building its ground-based infrastructure for command and control, including laying thousands of miles of fiberoptic cable across the Great Plains region to connect launch centers, is now expected to be much more complicated than originally anticipated. The projected future costs of Sentinel grew dramatically enough to trigger a review process known as a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach. The Pentagon concluded that Sentinel remains vital to national security and must continue, and ordered the Air Force to restructure it to bring its costs under control. Sentinel was originally expected to cost $77.7 billion, but prior to the review was on track to more than double that and cost about $160 billion. However, the Pentagon said last year that a 'reasonably modified' version of Sentinel would still cost 81% more than the original estimates, or $140.9 billion. The Air Force has also concluded it will need to dig entirely new silos for Sentinel, which will further complicate the program. The program originally planned to refurbish the existing network of 55-year-old Minuteman III silos for use by the next generation of ICBMs. But tests showed doing so would create additional problems and cause the program to slip further behind and over budget. The Air Force plans to primarily dig new silos on existing missile sites, which are already owned by the service.
