Vladimir Putin said Russia “will be able to repel” attacks by Ukraine’s new long range weapons supplied by the US, which Kyiv used to launch one of the most damaging attacks on the Kremlin’s air assets since the start of the war. While the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, result in an additional threat, the weapon would not change the situation along the 1,500km (932 mile) frontline, Mr Putin told reporters in Beijing. He said his forces will be able to repel attacks by the top-tier missile system. “For Ukraine, in this sense, there’s nothing good… it only prolongs the agony,” the Russian president said during his visit to China. Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that Washington’s decision to provide Ukraine with ATACMS is “reckless” and “a grave mistake” that won’t alter the continuing war’s outcome. On Tuesday, Ukraine said it used the ATACMS to destroy nine Russian helicopters, as well as ammunition, an air defence system and other assets at two airfields in regions occupied by Russia, marking a significant blow to Mr Putin’s military infrastructure. While Russia claimed it is not majorly affected, experts have said ATACMS will shift the battlefield layout to some degree because it will create pressure on Moscow’s forces to disperse its aircraft and ammunition depots parked near the frontline and in the Ukrainian territories it currently occupies. Russia has actively used aircraft to halt Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive. For more than 600 days now, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has continued in stages of slow-grinding warfare and active fighting in eastern and southern fronts on the battlefield. A protracted war of attrition is expected at least through next year as Ukraine seeks to push off every Russian soldier from its territory. Russia and Ukraine are eyeing battlefield advantages alongside consolidating their positions ahead of the three months of slow operations as rain, snow and poor visibility are expected to hamper the movement of tanks. The British defence ministry has said Russian forces are currently trying to push forward in some parts of eastern Ukraine. But these areas are well defended by Ukraine and it is “highly unlikely” the Russians will accomplish their goal of a major breakthrough. Read More Ukraine-Russia war - live: Kremlin warns of ‘grave mistake’ as Kyiv fires American-supplied ATACMS missiles Russian, North Korean foreign ministers meet amid Western suspicions about weapons transfers Ukraine: Rescuers search for survivors after deadly strike in Zaporizhzhia Ukraine has used long-range ATACMS missiles against Russia, Zelensky says Russia threatens US with ‘serious consequences’ after Ukraine fires first long-range ATACMS missiles

Direct messaging is reportedly coming to Threads soon as the Twitter rival app’s user base grows to nearly one-tenth of the Elon Musk-owned platform. A leaked internal report from Meta suggests DMs will be “coming soon” to Instagram’s Threads, along with other exciting features, Business Insider reported. Initially, Instagram’s chief Adam Mosseri had said DMs are not in Threads’ immediate roadmap, but the new leaked memo suggests the Twitter competitor could offer the messaging feature much sooner than expected. This expected update to the platform comes as Threads now has over 100 million user sign ups just within days of its arrival, boasting a weekly active user base that is nearly one-fifth of competitor Twitter’s. Within just its first week of launch, Threads racked up about 93 million active users globally and on 10 July, Meta announced that the app had reached 100 million signups. The app now has more than 150 million downloads, reaching this milestone “5.5 times more quickly than the second-fastest app to do so”, according to the app intelligence firm data.ai. Niantic’s Pokémon GO held the top spot as the most rapidly downloaded app for years since its debut in July 2016. Among Threads’ userbase, data.ai’s report suggested India accounts for nearly a third of the app’s downloads, followed by Brazil, with 22 per cent of overall Threads’ installs, and the US representing about 16 per cent of the total. Now, with the anticipated inclusion of a direct messaging feature, people on Threads can stay longer and chat privately without having to leave the app. Other features such as improved search, trends and topics are also reportedly coming soon, along with a feed in chronological order. It is unclear when these new updates will come. The new changes could put more pressure on Twitter and its owner Elon Musk, who said the platform continues to lose cash as advertising has dropped by half. “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50 per cent drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load,” Mr Musk tweeted on Saturday. “Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he said. Read More $44 billion and eight months later. It’s finally all over for Elon Musk Twitter changed my life – I’ll never forgive Elon Musk for what he’s done to it Twitter is in negative cash flow due to 50% drop in advertising revenue, says Elon Musk Twitter in negative cash flow due to 50% drop in advertising revenue, says Elon Musk Twitter starts making payments to its most controversial users Elon Musk posts series of explicit tweets about Mark Zuckerberg

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