Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow threatens to ‘melt’ Kyiv as it quadruples forces for Kursk counterattack

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said Russia could destroy Kyiv in response to the use of Western long-range missiles by Ukraine.

Mr Medvedev said Moscow already had formal grounds to use nuclear weapons since Ukraine‘s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, but could instead use some new weapon technologies to reduce Kyiv to “a giant melted spot” when its patience runs out.

“And that would be it. A giant, grey, melted spot instead of ‘the mother of Russian cities’,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app, referring to Kyiv.

It comes as Russia appears to have quadrupled its forces in the Kursk region in time for a counteroffensive aimed at regaining territory lost during the last six weeks of fighting.

Ukrainian forces stormed over the border and into the Russian region at the start of last month, capturing hundreds of square miles.

After Russia launched a counterattack this week, Vadym Mysnyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Operational Command “Siversk”, told Ukrainian TV that Moscow had bolstered its forces from 11,000 at the time of the Ukrainian incursion to up to 45,000 this week.

Ukraine‘s air defence units destroyed 10 out of 14 drones that Russia launched overnight targeting its territory, Ukraine‘s air force has said.

It also said on the Telegram messaging app that Russia launched two Iskander M-ballistic missiles and one Kh-59 guided air missile targeting the southern region of Odesa.

The guided air missile was destroyed, the air force said. It did not say what happened to the Iskander missiles or whether there was any damage as a result of the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that during the past week Russia used about 30 missiles of various types, more than 800 guided aerial