LIVE UPDATES: US HARM Missiles Demonstrate Zero Effectiveness in Ukraine - Source

The HARM missile was adopted by the US air force in 1983. The maximum speed of the missile is declared at 2,280 kilometers per hour or 630 meters per second, while the launch the range is up to 100 kilometers when used from high altitudes. For comparison, the maximum speed of the Russian AS-17 Krypton and AS-11 Kilter anti-radar missiles exceeds 1,000 and 1,100 meters per second respectively, and the launch range is over 200 kilometers.

However, Biden declined to disclose details about what the United States' contingency plans are if Russia uses chemical or nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that possible US deliveries of long-range missiles to Ukraine would make Washington a direct party to the conflict, in which case Moscow reserves the right to defend its territory by all available means.

Lopez Obrador said that in the coming days, at a meeting of the UN General Assembly, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will present a proposal to urgently find a solution to stop hostilities in Ukraine and establish a general truce for at least 5 years.

The Biden administration has given approximately $15.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since taking office, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), ammunition, armored vehicles, drones and other military equipment.

According to Software security firm Kaspersky, since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the number of DDoS attacks against national resources and international organizations worldwide have increased 5 times in the first quarter this year compared to the second quarter of 2021.

Commenting on those US officials who are reportedly frustrated that sanctions have had a less severe impact on the Russian economy than expected, Kirby noted that the Biden administration has said from the beginning that some sanctions could take time to have any effect.

The United States expects to send two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) to Ukraine in the next “two months or so” amid Russia’s special military operation in the country, Defense Department Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Friday.

“Two NASAMS are expected to be delivered [to Ukraine] within the next two months or so. These defensive systems will further contribute to protecting Ukrainians from enemy air threats to include aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and missiles,” Ryder said during a press briefing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday there were attempts to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia, including on the territory of Russian nuclear facilities, but assured that the situation was under control.

"As for terrorist attacks, yes, this is such a serious thing, it is essentially the use of terrorist methods. We see this in the killings of officials in the liberated territories. We see this even in attempts to carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation. Including even attempts carrying out terrorist attacks, if not at the facilities themselves, then around our nuclear facilities, nuclear power plants, on the territory of the Russian Federation, not to mention the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant," Putin told reporters.

Putin stressed that Russia was doing everything to prevent negative developments.

"The answer will follow if they do not eventually understand that such methods are unacceptable. They are essentially no different from the methods of terrorism," the president added.

The US delegation' discussions at the 77th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next week will not be focused on Ukraine, but will not ignore it either, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Friday.

"We are gonna be focused on climate change, health, building and supporting the commitment on the UN Charter," Thomas-Greenfield said.

The discussions will not be focused solely on Ukraine, but "we won't ignore Ukraine," she added.

The 77th UN General Assembly, which is running from September 13-27, marks the first in-person gathering of that body since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The death toll from a Ukrainian strike at a building housing Kherson’s regional administration in the country’s south on Friday rose to three, authorities said.

"Three people died, including two bypassers," an emergency service spokesperson told Sputnik.

The regional social affairs minister said earlier that her driver had been killed in the strike.

The regional health authority said three people had been hospitalized in grave condition, while 10 others were being treated for moderate injuries.

A Sputnik correspondent in the city of Kherson, the province's administrative center, said parts of US-supplied HIMARS missiles had been recovered from the site after Ukrainian troops fired five projectiles at the building.

Russia has added 41 citizens of Australia in its travel ban list over Canberra’s sanctions policy against Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"In response to politically motivated sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities by the Australian government, introduced as part of the Russophobic campaign of the ‘collective West’, entry into our country is closed indefinitely for an additional 41 Australians from among the military-industrial complex contractors, journalists and municipal deputies who form the anti-Russian agenda in this country," the ministry said in a statement.

The European Union needs to set up a training mission for Ukrainian forces and help with maintenance of military equipment, foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland said on Friday in a joint statement.

"We recognize that helping sustain Ukrainian forces in the long run entails going beyond the provision of equipment, notably by setting up a dedicated European training and assistance mission in the EU for Ukrainian forces that would also ensure maintenance and repair of military equipment," the statement read.

Intelligence service of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) detected the arrival of the NATO officers in the Kiev-controlled part of the Kharkov region, an officer with the LPR People's Militia told Sputnik on Friday.

"Our intelligence agencies have detected the arrival of NATO personnel officers in the Kharkov region. The purpose of their trip to this area is to organize cooperation between foreign and Ukrainian units," Lt. Col. Andrei Marochko said.

At least one person was killed and several others injured as a result of Ukrainian shelling of the center of Kherson on Friday, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.

Ukrainian forces struck at the center of Kherson. At least five missiles hit the area near the administration building. The regional administration said only civilian staff and no military personnel were inside. The blasts also damaged nearby residential blocs.

"There were no casualties among government members. The majority of victims of the missile strike were civilians who were passing by," the administration of Kherson region said further.

Kherson Deputy Governor Kirill Stremousov said missiles had been fired by US-supplied HIMARS systems. He told Rossiya 1 television channel that some of the missiles had been shot down.

Alla Barkhatnova, the regional minister for social policy, told reporters that her driver, Ivan Kravchenko, had been killed in the strike. She said she was shielded from missile fragments by a ministerial worker who was injured.

The regional administration called the attack an act of terrorism. Ukrainian political and military leaders will be held responsible for the aggression, it said in a statement.