our top story tonight on gravitas is about Russia days ago when Russia fired its new experimental Hypersonic missile into Ukraine for the first time President Putin also issued a warning to Ukraine's backers he told them to back off and by them I mean Britain he warned that the weapon which has struck Ukraine is designed for a decisive strike on them Putin may not have spelled out Britain's name specifically but he clearly meant attacks on the US and the UK we'll tell you why let's start off with the latest updates first according to reports a British
man has been captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine in a video circulating online which we cannot show you a man dressed in military clothing identifies himself as James Scott Anderson he says he formerly served in the British Army in fact Russian state news news agency Tas reported a military Source calling him a UK mercenary that had been taken prisoner in the Kursk area of Russia remember that is the Russian region where Ukraine has held territory since launching a surprise offensive in August or at least claims to have held territory the British foreign office
has said that it is supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention in Russia in fact Anderson's father has told media outlets in Britain that he had begged him not to go to Ukraine according to his father reportedly Anderson still went to Ukraine because he thought he was doing what was right in the video which was first posted on the messaging app telegram Anderson tells a man questioning him from behind a camera that he served as a private in the British Army he says that he joined Ukraine's International Legion which is
a military unit basically made up of foreign volunteers after Lo losing his job and seeing reports on television about the war Anderson was captured from ksk where Russia has moved about 50,000 of its troops along with North Korean soldiers reportedly and Russia has started taking back parts of ksk with Ukraine starting to take a beating the way things stand today Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory it captured Russian forces have mounted waves of counter assaults according to news agency Reuters in fact Ukraine's hold on course region has been cut to 800 square kilometers
from 1,376 at the start of the incursion in the month of August but you see Ukraine is not just taking a beating in ksk at home it is struggling to keep hold as its front lines continue to crumble Russian forces have reportedly made threatening advance in East Ukraine's dones region and as a result Ukraine is trying to disrupt Russian supply lines with strikes deep inside Russia how are they doing it no points for guessing through long range strikes enabled by the easing of curbs on the use of Western supplied missiles but here's the thing Putin
was was not lying when he said that there was no counter for Russia's Hypersonic missiles following Ukraine's firing of British made long range Storm Shadow missiles at military targets inside Russia Russia responded by firing missiles and drones including the new oresic Hypersonic missile at the nepro Ukraine claims to have intercepted some of the missiles but the effort is proving expensive to say the least Ukraine had to to use 32 Patriot missiles to counter Russia's Hypersonic threats Ukraine's use of British Shadow missiles against Russia has escalated tensions making the UK along with the US legitimate targets
for Russia and following the firing of the oresnik missile which was initially mistaken for an ICBM Remember by Ukraine Putin issued a warning and boasted about the situation I'm quoting I recommend that the ruling Elites of those countries that are hatching plans to use their military contingents against Russia seriously think about this now if there was any doubt about who that was meant for here's more proof take a look at these visuals coming up on your screen Russia's oresnik is actually one of its most dangerous weapons CCTV footage captured on the day of the attack
that is November 21 showing multiple bright flashes raining down from the sky in Ukraine's Deno it shows that oresnik appears to have multiple independently targetable re-entry Vehicles which means that it has separate Warheads able to hit different targets you know what that means it basically means that oresnik has enormous destructive power as time has passed and experts have had the opportunity to study things further they have categorized oresnik as an experimental hybrid missile a missile that sits in a category between InterContinental and intermediate range which means that it has a range of around 3,000 miles
that range means that the missile can easily strike Britain experts concur with Putin no modern air defense systems in the world including missile defense systems created by Americans in Europe can intercept such Russian missiles clearly Russia was not looking to make a military Point Russia meant to Simply make a political point a message to the world Russia can hit almost any Target in Europe and the UK meanwhile the British prime minister K tame has rejected any suggestion that the UK is at war with Russia he has only underscored UK's unwavering support for Ukraine saying that
Putin cannot be allowed to win this war but the question is no longer about the UK's or the NATO's commitment towards Ukraine you see the question is about how prepared the UK is or how prepared the NATO is to actually sustain an attack from Russia if Putin is pushed to fire an oresnik missile or maybe something stronger than that the bottom line is that as it stands right now Ukraine supporters the countries that pushed this war on Ukraine in a way are involved in a limitless asymmetrical war with Russia Putin has already relaxed Russia's nuclear
Doctrine which now hypothetically allows Russia to use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear armed State like Ukraine remember nuclear warnings are no longer just a tactic to detor Nato it's no longer a strategy to intimidate date the West it has become a very real possibility as for the question of whether Putin would actually push the world into a nuclear war realistically it does not seem likely however Putin does have another nuclear option available targeting Ukraine's nuclear power plants last week in fact green pieace warned that Ukraine's power network is at a heightened risk of catastrophic failure
Russian air strikes have aimed at Ukraine's electricity substations the safety of Ukraine's three operational nuclear power plants is now in danger and if the reactors lost power they could basically quickly become unstable and what happens then you ask no points for guessing radiation leak even a second chal like situation remember in 1986 Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in fact on Sunday un's nuclear Watchdog the iaea reported that main power lines from substations to the three nuclear power stations had been CAU the three plants by the way account for about 2/3
of Ukraine's electricity and as a result Ukraine has been facing a harsh powerless winter hundreds of thousands of ukrainians are spending up to 6 hours at a time in the dark without heat without light and with without running water but Ukraine is freezing not just because of Russian strikes but also because of corruption reports indicating that government corruption in Ukraine has stalled a secret project to protect the energy grid according to the times Britain is secretly assisting Ukraine in constructing a concrete structure to safeguard its energy Grid in June this year Mustafa namam head of
an agency responsible for protecting critical infrastructure in Ukraine resigned citing government failures naam alleged that there were deliberate detail delays in funding for a 1.4 billion bunker project aimed at substations he claimed that bribes were not paid to officials leading to project hordes his replacement Sergey sukum milin indicated that contractors were seeking excessive profits and that contracts were being renegotiated to cut costs meanwhile contractors are struggling to continue work due to the lack of government funds and have had to take out loans which then brings us back to the core issue as far as Ukraine
is concerned corruption it remains a big barrier to Ukraine's exception into the European Union after all as a result now Ukraine relies on basic protective measures Advanced systems are are provided by its Western Partners but as long as corruption remains a problem in Ukraine forget about Russia Ukraine will remain Its Own Worst Enemy to stay up to speed with the latest news download the weon app And subscribe to our YouTube channel