Russia has fired its new ‘Oreshnik’ hypersonic ballistic missile – Putin
Russia has successfully conducted a “combat test” of its newest ballistic missiles against a Ukrainian target, Vladimir Putin has said Read Full Article at RT.com
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 state-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 (known as Dnipro in Ukraine), Putin added.
The strike was a response to Ukrainian attacks on military facilities located on internationally recognized Russian territory, the president stated. On Tuesday and Thursday, Kiev’s forces launched the strikes, using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles, he said.
Earlier, international media reported that Kiev had received approval from Washington and London for the use of Western-made long-range systems for strikes deep into Russia.
One of the attacks resulted in several casualties at a Russian command center in the Kursk Region, but failed to disrupt its operations, the president said, adding that such developments have drastically changed the nature of the Ukraine conflict, making it a more “global” one.
According to Putin, the response involved a “hypersonic ballistic missile strike with non-nuclear payload.” The missile struck “one of the biggest industrial complexes, which has been famous even since the Soviet times and still produces missiles and other weapons.” The president was apparently referring to Yuzhmash – Ukraine’s state-owned aerospace manufacturer it inherited from the Soviet Union.
The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed on Thursday that the city of Dnepropetrovsk was targeted in a major Russian missile strike, involving various types of weapons. The Ukrainian military stated that Moscow used “an intercontinental ballistic missile” as part of the strike – a claim that was disputed even by its backers in Washington.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, the strike also involved a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles, with the Ukrainian air defense forces supposedly shooting down six of the cruise missiles. The Ukrainian military also said they did not possess any information on casualties or damage resulting from the strike at the time the statement was released.
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