Putin admits firing new hypersonic ballistic missile at Ukraine and threatens West with the same
mw/ew
21.11.2024, 19:22
Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned that his country’s war with Ukraine was becoming global. Photo: Reuters
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday 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.
Putin accused the West of escalating the conflict in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to strike Russia with long-range missiles, and that the conflict was becoming global.
He added that Russia had conducted combat tests of the “Oreshnik” (hazel) hypersonic missile system in response to the actions of NATO countries, specifically the U.S. and the U.K., against Russia.
Putin said: “In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things. In this case, with a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment.
“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” Putin said, vowing that in case of “an escalation of aggressive actions” by the West, the Kremlin would “respond just as decisively and symmetrically.”
“I recommend that the ruling elites of those countries that are hatching plans to use their military contingents against Russia seriously think about this.”
Several hours earlier, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was phoned during a live briefing and told not to comment on reports that Russia had fired a ballistic missile at Ukraine, according to a video of the briefing that picked up the telephone conversation.
‼️ During the briefing, Zakharova received a call from the Kremlin and was instructed not to comment on the strike on the Ukrainian Yuzhmash (Southern Machine-Building Plant) with an intercontinental ballistic missile. pic.twitter.com/oq5ZXSENHW
Asked about the conversation by Russian state news agencies, Zakharova said that while preparing for the briefing she had asked experts for clarification on certain topics as is standard practice.
New kind of missile
Ukraine said Russia fired the new kind of missile at the city of Dnipro on Thursday, and while there was debate over what kind, it appeared to be a nuclear-capable weapon that carried multiple warheads, in a further escalation of the 33-month-old war.
A group of glowing projectiles could be seen plummeting to the ground from the night sky in a video published by Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian military charity. It said the video was of Dnipro overnight.
Strike on #Dnipro. The "Come Back Alive" Foundation showed video of the morning attack by the Russians, when they - preliminary - first launched an intercontinental ballistic missile over Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/0R2DB4xfbB
Kyiv said Russia had used an intercontinental ballistic missile, a weapon designed for long-distance nuclear strikes and never before used in war. Three U.S. officials said it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile that has a smaller range.
Security experts said that if the Dnipro strike involved an intercontinental ballistic missile, it would be the first use of such a missile in war. ICBMs are strategic weapons designed to deliver nuclear warheads and are an important part of Russia's nuclear deterrent.
Intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range of 3,000–5,500 kilometers.
ICBM or IRBM? Not important
“Whether it was an ICBM or an IRBM, the range isn’t the important factor,” said Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at Oslo University who specializes in missile technology and nuclear strategy.
“The fact that it carried a MIRVed [Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle] payload is much more significant for signaling purposes and is the reason Russia opted for it. This payload is exclusively associated with nuclear-capable missiles.”
Russia also fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles, six of which were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said.
The air force did not say what the ICBM targeted or whether it had caused any damage, but regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the missile attack damaged an industrial enterprise and set off fires in Dnipro. Two people were hurt.
Reuters reported that a U.S. official said the United States was pre-notified by Russia shortly before its strike with an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile on Dnipro through nuclear risk reduction channels.
“If true this will be totally unprecedented and the first actual military use of ICBM. Not that it makes a lot of sense given their price and precision,” Andrey Baklitskiy of the U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research posted on X.
German security expert Ulrich Kühn posted: “It looks as if Russia has today used an intercontinental ballistic missile in a war for the first time in history, against the civilian target Dnipro.”
Some military experts said the ICBM launch, if confirmed, could be seen as an act of deterrence by Moscow following Kyiv’s strikes into Russia with Western weapons this week, after restrictions on such strikes were lifted.
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