Moscow/Kyiv: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia had launched a hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in Ukraine and warned the West that Moscow could attack military installations in any country whose weapons are used against Russia.
He said the West was escalating the conflict in Ukraine by allowing Kiev to attack Russia with long-range missiles and that the conflict was becoming a global conflict. Russia therefore conducted combat tests of the “Oreshnik” (The Hazel) hypersonic missile system in response to NATO countries’ aggressive actions against Russia, Putin said.
“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21, the Russian Armed Forces launched a joint strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine,” Putin said.
Earlier, Ukraine said Russia had detected an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the city of Dnipro on Thursday, in what would be the first use in war of a weapon designed to deliver nuclear weapons. The Ukrainian Air Force said the missile was fired from the Russian region of Astrakhan, more than 700 km from Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine. agencies
Putin declared that he would give advance warning if Russia were to launch more such missile attacks against Ukraine, allowing civilians to evacuate to safety.
In his address, he described the Oreshnik as a “ballistic missile” that in this case was deployed in a “non-nuclear hypersonic configuration”, saying that the “test” was successful and hit its target. Air defenses cannot stop the Oreshnik, which attacks at Mach 10, or 2.5-3 kilometers per second, Putin said. “Modern air defense systems… cannot intercept such missiles. It is impossible,” he said. “To date there is no means to counter such a weapon.”
Putin’s announcement came hours after Ukraine claimed that Russia had launched an intercontinental ballistic missile overnight over the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. However, a US official said Russia had fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile, not an ICBM, contradicting Ukraine’s official account. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the assessment was based on a preliminary analysis.
Uran did not provide any evidence that an ICBM was used in the attack. Ukrainian President Zelensky said the missile used “matched the speed and altitude” of the ICBM.
The ICBM’s range – which can exceed 5,500 kilometers – is beyond what is needed to attack Ukraine. But such missiles are designed to carry nuclear warheads, and their use, even with conventional payloads, would serve as a chilling reminder of Russia’s nuclear capability.
In a statement Thursday on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s air force said the ICBM was fired at Dnipro along with eight other missiles and that the Ukrainian military shot down six of them. Two people were injured in the attack, and an industrial facility and a rehabilitation center for the disabled were damaged, according to local officials. An Air Force statement said it was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region over the Caspian Sea.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday called on the international community to quickly react to Russia’s use of “new types of weapons.” “We call on the international community and every leader, every state that respects the UN Charter, to react immediately to Russia’s use of new types of weapons,” spokesman Hiorhi Tikhi said in Kyiv. “If it is confirmed that an intercontinental ballistic missile was specifically used, we believe that it can be said that Putin’s Russia has undermined the position of North Korea, which from time to time… quite regularly launches such missiles, which its Scared. Neighbors, scaring the world,” he said.
