President Vladimir Putin said this Friday what Russia will continue testing the Oreshnik hypersonic missile, who fired on Ukraine this Thursday, and which ordered its serial production to begin.
In televised statements, Putin reaffirmed that this missile was incapable of being intercepted by the enemy. “Today there is no countermeasure for such a missile in the world, no means of intercepting it. And I will emphasize once again that we will continue testing this brand new system”said.
“We have to start mass production. The decision (…) has already been made”declared the Russian president, praising the “particular strength and power of this weapon” in a meeting with senior military commanders.
Putin stated that Russia will continue to use the Oreshnik (“hazel” in Russian) missile for its attacks against enemy forces. “We will continue these tests, even in combat conditionsdepending on the situation and the nature of the threats to Russia’s security,” he declared.
The Oreshnik is a nuclear-capable, “medium-range” ballistic missile, which means it can reach targets located in a range of 3,000 to 5,500 km.
On Thursday, Putin confirmed in a speech to the nation that, in response to Ukrainian bombings with Western missiles, Russia fired this new type of hypersonic ballistic missile, without a nuclear payload, against a military site in the central city of Dnipro. eastern Ukraine.
His choreographed meeting with the Russian defense minister and those responsible for developing the missile came at the end of a week in which the conflict with Ukraine escalated rapidly.
Putin said Thursday that the Oreshnik missile launch was a direct response to kyiv’s strikes that used missiles supplied by the United States and the United Kingdom for the first time on Russian territory. In his speech, he warned that Russia reserved the right to fire missiles at military installations of countries whose weapons are being used by Ukraine.
On the other hand, the president Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky declared this Friday that Ukraine is asking its Western partners for updating its air defense systems after the Russian attack on the city of Dnipro.
“The Ukrainian Defense Minister is already holding meetings with our partners on new air defense systems, exactly the type of systems that can protect lives from new risks”Zelensky declared in a speech recorded on video and posted on social media.
Zelensky too criticized Chinaa key ally of Moscow, for its response to the firing of the new Russian missile, which experts say may be equipped with a nuclear warhead. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that “all parties should remain calm and exercise restraint.”
In his evening speech, the Ukrainian president said: “From Russia, this is a mockery of the position of States like China, States of the Global South, some leaders who call for moderation at all times.” And he added: “The world must sound serious in its response, so that Putin truly fears expanding the war and feels the real consequences of his actions.”
kyiv relies on Western weapons to defend itself from the Russian invasion, launched almost three years ago.
Moscow, however, has said that the use of Western weapons against Russian territory turns NATO countries into direct participants in the conflictand that military sites on its territory are legitimate targets of retaliatory attacks.
Both sides rush to secure battlefield advantage ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States in January. The Republican leader has said he can negotiate a peace deal within hours, although he has not given details about his plan, and he has repeatedly criticized US aid to Ukraine.
(With information from AFP and Reuters)
