MOSCOW/KYIV: Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had launched a hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile attack on a Ukrainian military facility, and warned the West that Moscow could strike the military installations of any country whose weapons were used against Russia.
He said the West was escalating the conflict in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to strike Russia with long-range missiles, and that the conflict was becoming a global conflict. So Russia had conducted combat tests of the “Oreshnik” (the hazel) hypersnonic missile system in response to the aggressive actions of Nato countries against Russia, Putin said.
“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on Nov 21, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine,” Putin said.
Earlier, Ukraine said Russia fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the city of Dnipro on Thursday, in what would be the first use in war of a weapon designed to deliver nukes. 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 Russia would issue advance warnings if it launches more strikes with such missile against Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate to safety.
In his address, he described Oreshnik as a “ballistic missile” that was deployed in this case “in a non-nuclear hypersonic configuration”, saying that the “test” had been successful and had hit its target. Air defences cannot intercept the Oreshnik, which attacks at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5-3 kilometres per second, Putin said. “Modern air defence systems… cannot intercept such missiles. That’s impossible,” he said. “As of today there are no means of counteracting such a weapon.”
Putin’s announcement came hours after Ukraine claimed that Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile overnight at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. However, a US official said Russia fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile, not an ICBM, contradicting the official account from Ukraine. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the assessment was based on initial analysis.
Uraine did not provide any evidence that an ICBM was used in the attack. Ukrainian President Zelensky said a missile used “matches the speed and altitude” of an ICBM.
The range of an ICBM – which can exceed 5,500 kilometres – is beyond what is needed to attack Ukraine. But such missiles are designed to carry atomic warheads, and the use of one, even with a conventional payload, 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 an ICBM was fired at Dnipro, along with eight other missiles, and that the Ukrainian military shot down six of them. Two people were wounded in the attack, and an industrial facility and a rehabilitation center for people with disabilities were damaged, according to local officials. The air force statement said it was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region, on the Caspian Sea.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Thursday called on the international community to react swiftly to Russia’s use of a “new type of weaponry”. “We call on the international community and every leader, every state that respects the UN charter to right now, immediately to react to the use by Russia of a new type of weaponry,” spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said in Kyiv. “If it is confirmed that specifically an intercontinental ballistic missile was used, then we believe that it can be said that Putin’s Russia has degraded to the status of North Korea, which from time to time…fairly regularly fires such missiles, frightening its neighbours, frightening the world,” he said.
