Putin reveals Russia has used its new ‘Oreshnik’ hypersonic ballistic missile

The strike was launched in response to Kiev’s use of Western-made long-range missiles, the president has said

The Russian military has launched a start-of-the-art intermediate-range ballistic missile against a Ukrainian target, President Vladimir Putin said in a public address on Thursday.

As part of what the president called a “combat test,” the hypersonic missile, dubbed ‘Oreshnik’ (‘Hazel’), successfully struck a military industrial facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk (also known as Dnipro in Ukraine), Putin added.

The strike was a response to the Ukrainian attacks on the military facilities located on the internationally recognized Russian territory, the president stated. On Tuesday and Thursday, Kiev’s forces launched strikes into the Russian territory, using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles, he said. Earlier, the Western media reported that Kiev received approval from Washington and London for the use of Western-made long-range systems for strikes deep into the Russian territory. 

One of the strikes resulted in some casualties at a Russian command center in the Kursk Region but failed to disrupt its operations, the president said, adding that such developments also drastically changed the nature of the Ukrainian conflict bringing it closer to turning into a “global” one.