ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Members of the Ukrainian armed forces ride on armoured personnel carriers near Debaltseve, eastern Ukraine, February 12, 2015. Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters The recent military escalation in eastern Ukraine  has drawn attention of the UN Security Council (UNSC). The UNSC found the situation in the region very tense and adopted a statement on June 6 encouraging all parties in Ukraine to recommit to a 2015 peace agreement. The statement also expressed a “grave concern” at deteriorating situation in the Donbass  region, where the conflict is developing. All 15 UNSC members including the US and Russia agreed on the statement, which was the first pronouncement by the UNSC on Ukraine since January 2017. The UNSC condemned “continuous violations of the ceasefire regime, especially the use of heavy weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements, responsible for tragic deaths, including among civilians. ” Last week, UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the UNSC that...

Russia’s MiG-31 with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile. Photo: Aleksandr Shukhov On June 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin announce that all the recently unveiled state-of-the-art Russian weapons will be put into service in time addign that some are already adopted. The announcement was made during his annual Q&A session in Moscow. “The hypersonic air-deployed Kinzhal system – the missile which can travel at 10 Mach speed – is already used by our troops in the South Federal District,” the president said. “A laser combat system is in service as well.” The hypersonic system Avangard and Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) will be put into service in 2019 and 2020 respectively. “I don’t think that any other country will develop such weapon [as Avangard]. Naturally, it will emerge at some point, but, as I’ve said already, it won’t bother us, since we already have it,” Putin added. He also revealed that an nuclear unmanned underwater vehicle and cruise mi...