Putin threatens to hit Ukrainian ‘decision-making centers’ with new hypersonic missile

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use the Kremlin’s new hypersonic ballistic missile to hit Ukraine’s “decision-making centers” as the latest retaliation for the use of American long-range weapons.

Speaking on Thursday at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Kazakhstan, Putin suggested the new Oreshnik missile could be used to target Kyiv’s leadership, according to a transcript from the Kremlin.

“The Ministry of Defence and the General Staff of the Russian Army are currently identifying targets for strikes within Ukraine,” Putin said of the Oreshnik missiles.

“These may include military installations, defense industry sites, or decision-making centers in Kyiv,” he added.

Putin said such attacks would be warranted given Kyiv’s repeated drone strikes targeting Moscow and St. Petersburg, despite the fact that Russia has long been bombarding the Ukrainian capital.

The Russian president also claimed that the Kremlin was capable of producing 10 times the amount of missiles as all of NATO combined, with Moscow’s productivity set to increase by more than 20% next year.

“Their production is also being ramped up and is going at full speed,” Putin said of Russia’s hypersonic missiles. “The Oreshnik system, of course, has no equivalents in the world, and I doubt we will see anything comparable in the foreseeable future.”

The Oreshnik, which has yet to be fully analyzed, hit speeds of nearly 8,500 miles per hour after it was launched from the 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region last week, according to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate.

The Oreshnik — Russian for hazel tree — appears to be based on Moscow’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile and is capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads.

Putin’s speech came following Russia’s latest mass bombardment against Ukraine’s energy grid, with the Kremlin hitting 17 power facilities overnight with a barrage of 90 missiles and 100 drones.

The strike left more than a million households without power, according to Kyiv’s energy ministry, which has been assailed by large-scale strikes 10 other times in 2024 alone.

The Kremlin said Thursday’s strike, too, was a direct response to the use of American and British-made long-range weapons in Russia last week.

“I want to emphasize once again that these strikes were carried out in response to the continued attacks on Russian territory using American ATACMS missiles,” Putin said at the summit.