A new ballistic missile launched by Russia struck a military industrial facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, but the actual mission sent a deadly new message to NATO.
Hours after Thursday’s attack sparked debate over whether a Ukrainian factory was hit by an intercontinental ballistic missile, President Vladimir Putin made a rare and surprise appearance on Russian television to clear up the mystery.
He describes it as a new medium-range ballistic missile that races toward a target at 10 times the speed of sound.
“The modern air defense systems that exist in the world and the anti-missile defenses created by the Americans in Europe cannot intercept these missiles,” Putin said in an icy and menacing tone.
The attack was the first time the missile had been used in war – or in any conflict.
The dramatic event came during a week of tensions as Ukraine struck targets in Russia with American-made long-range missiles after the US lifted a ban on their use and Putin responded by lowering the threshold for using Moscow’s nuclear arsenal.
Is it a new missile?
Putin said the missile is called “Oreshnik,” which in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” and that this first combat test “has been successful.”
He said in July that Russia would begin producing intermediate-range missiles to “mirror” US plans to deploy such weapons. In a speech Thursday, he said Russia is developing the Oreshnik in response to the development and deployment of US missiles with similar ranges.
Intermediate-range missiles, or IRBMs, can fly between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310 and 3,400 miles). Ukrainian military officials said the missile was fired from Russia’s Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea, 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the east.
While Russia has launched cruise missiles at Ukraine from longer ranges, the new medium-range missiles mark the first use of these ground-launched ballistic missiles, which can carry heavier conventional payloads and may be fitted with multiple nuclear warheads. .
Putin boasts that the missile, the latest in Russia’s arsenal of hypersonic weapons, hits targets at speeds of Mach 10, rendering Western missile defenses useless.
Matthew Savill, director of military science at the Royal United Services Institute, noted that the missiles used Thursday have some “more than we have seen in this conflict so far and may be used in combat.”
He said the missile could release multiple warheads at very high speeds, although it was less accurate than cruise missiles or short-range ballistic missiles.
Video of the attack showed six fiery trails followed by a powerful explosion — a telltale sign of multiple warheads being used. The authenticity of the video cannot be independently confirmed.
As for Putin’s claim that Western systems cannot intercept the missile, Savill said “this is quite difficult to defend” even for the advanced US Patriot system.
“You’re releasing multiple independently targetable warheads, MIRVs, at such a high velocity that the Patriots will struggle to intercept them,” he said.
What is Putin’s message to the West?
Putin described the use of the Oreshnik on Thursday as a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian military facilities in the Bryansk and Kursk regions earlier this week with Western-supplied weapons.
One of the attacks killed and wounded an unspecified number of Russian soldiers, which Kremlin leaders said added an “element of global character” to the conflict.
Putin has warned before that using Western weapons means Russia and NATO are at war.
“We believe that we have the right to use weapons against the military facilities of countries that allow the use of weapons against our facilities,” he said. “And if there is an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond in a mirror manner.”
If Russia launches more strikes in Ukraine with new missiles, it will warn of its use in advance to allow civilians to reach safety as a “humanitarian” move, Putin said, adding that Moscow has not worried about repelling the enemy since then. unable to stop the attack
“I would recommend the ruling elites of the countries that are planning to use military contingents against Russia to think about this,” Putin said.
Savill said the new missiles send a chilling signal from Russia that “we’ve got something that’s bothering you.”
The bigger message for the West is “we are happy to participate in the competition on intermediate-range ballistic missiles. PS This could be a nuclear tip. Do you want to take that risk?”
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council headed by Putin, stepped up his rhetoric by posting a video of a missile attack in Ukraine and condemning the West.
“So, is that what you want? Well, you already know! A hypersonic ballistic missile attack,” he said in X.
What is the response of Ukraine and the West?
In a state-of-the-nation address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack and accused Moscow of using Ukraine as a testing ground for new weapons.
“Today, the crazy neighbor has again shown what he really is, and how he despises dignity, freedom, and human life. And they are very afraid,” he said.
Two U.S. officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly on sensitive matters and thus spoke on condition of anonymity, said Russia has only a few experimental missiles of this type and is not a capability it expects to deploy on a regular basis. Ukraine.
British Defense Secretary John Healey told MPs that the war is at a “serious moment,” and that “the front line is now less stable than at any time” since the conflict began.
“We have seen in a few weeks a very clear escalation from Putin and his forces,” he said. “They have increased attacks on energy systems in Ukraine before winter, they have increased attacks on civilian centers killing children, they have sent at least 10,000 North Korean troops to the front lines of the war.”
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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London and Aamer Madhani, Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed
