Russia has removed a senior general in Ukraine for giving misleading reports about the progress of the war as Defence Minister Andrei Belousov tries to clear out poor commanders, pro-Russian war bloggers and Russian media said.

"Ukraine is not a testing ground for weapons," says president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he warns Russia wants to "spread fear and panic".

Recent events show that there is a real risk of a global conflict breaking out, Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Friday, after Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-ra

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would keep testing its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile in combat and had a stock ready for use. Putin was speaking a day after Russia fired the new intermediate-range weapon into Ukraine for the first time,

The attack with an intermediate-range ballistic missile has spurred fears of a major escalation in the ongoing war and prompted Ukraine to request new air defenses.

President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia will continue to test and start mass-producing the hypersonic ballistic missile that it fired at Ukraine Thursday.