Ukraine-Russia latest: Zelensky visits Kharkiv frontline as Putin threatens Cold War-style missile crisis

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline in Kharkiv on Monday as Germany hit out at Vladimir Putin ’s warning of a Cold War-style missile crisis .

Zelensky visited Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine to pay tribute to Kyiv ’s special forces, which have been engaged in bitter fighting with Putin’s forces in the region since May.

“Today, I had the honour to be there to congratulate our Special Forces warriors on their professional day and to present them with state awards,” Zelensky said.

It came as Germany vowed it would “not be intimidated” by Putin’s threat to station long-range missiles in striking distance of the West.

Putin said if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany, it would do the same, in a threat echoing the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 which saw Russian nuclear weapons aimed at the US from Cuba.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones flew a record 1,100 miles to a base in Russia ’s Arctic far north in order to strike a supersonic long-range missile carrier.

The ambitious raid on the Olenya airfield in Murmansk saw the drones operating just 200km from the Finnish border, officials said.