By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2024-11-21 21:00:07 | Updated at 2024-11-22 03:37:44
6 hours ago
Russian President Vladimir Putin bragged about firing a new kind of ballistic missile at Ukraine early Thursday — while threatening to also use it against other powers arming Kyiv, including the US.
In an unscheduled televised address to the nation, Putin said he sent a hypersonic missile called Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree — to strike a facility in Dnipro in response to Kyiv’s recent use of British and American missiles to attack Russian territory.
Putin described it as a medium-range missile, countering Kyiv’s claim that it was the first use of a full intercontinental ballistic missile.
Still, he threatened to use it against anyone supplying missiles to Ukraine — and warned that US air defenses would be powerless to stop the ordnance, which moves at 10 times the speed of sound.
“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” Putin said in an ominous escalation of threats.
“In the case of escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond resolutely in a mirror way.”
The US was alerted ahead of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said. There was no suggestion it was carrying a nuclear head at the time.
Ukrainian officials described it as an intercontinental ballistic missile, which is designed to carry nuclear warheads great distances and has never been used during wartime.
US officials countered that, saying instead it was a shorter-range ballistic missile that can’t travel quite as far.
Still, “This was new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield, so that was certainly of concern,” Singh said, noting that the missile could carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.
The strike wounded two people and damaged an industrial facility — as well as a rehabilitation center for the disabled, local officials said.
In a break with the dictator’s previous policies, Putin said Russia would warn Ukraine if it planned on hitting another site with the Oreshnik to give the country time to allow civilians to evacuate.
The saber-rattling comes at a precarious time in Putin’s nearly three-year war against Ukraine, which he invaded without provocation in February 2022.
Days ago, outgoing President Joe Biden gave his Eastern European ally the green light to strike deep into Russia with US-built long-range missiles called Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMs.
Russia had been signaling to the US and its allies that it would consider the act a major escalation — and it responded in kind.
“Today, our crazy neighbor once again showed what he really is,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said just before Putin’s address. “And how afraid he is.”
Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank, said Russia was sending a message by launching a missile that could easily be equipped with several nukes.
“Why might you use it therefore?” Savill said. “Signaling — signaling to the Ukrainians. We’ve got stuff that outrages you.”
“But really signaling to the West ‘We’re happy to enter into a competition around intermediate-range ballistic missiles,” he continued. “P.S.: These could be nuclear-tipped. Do you really want to take that risk?’”
Putin has also signed a new doctrine that would let Russia respond with nukes to a conventional attack on his country — as long as the attacking nation is backed by another nuclear power.
The US and other Western countries said Russia has been using irresponsible rhetoric about the potentially world-ending weapons throughout its Ukrainian campaign to intimidate its enemies.
Analysts and observers say that Biden’s decision to loosen restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western missiles probably won’t change the course of the war, which Russia appears to be slowly winning.
But it could put the invading armies in a more vulnerable spot.
Putin has said it could mean Russia is at war with NATO — a confrontation that no one wants.
“It is an important move, and it pulls against [and] undermines the narrative that Putin had been trying to establish: That it was fine for Russia to rain down Iranian drones and North Korean missiles on Ukraine, but a reckless escalation for Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons at legitimate targets in Russia,” said Peter Ricketts, a former U.K. national security adviser who now sits in the House of Lords.
With Post wires
