Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Kremlin launched a new medium-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kiev’s use this week of American and British missiles capable of reaching deep into Russia.
In a televised address to the country, the Russian president warned that US air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said was flying at ten times the speed of sound and which he called “Oreshnik” – Russian for hazelnut tree. He also said they could be used to attack any Ukrainian ally whose missiles are used to attack Russia.
“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against the military facilities of countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” Putin said in his first comments since President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light this month to use US ATACMS systems. The missiles target limited targets inside Russia.
Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that the Russian missile is a new experimental type of medium-range missile based on the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
“This was a new type of lethal capability deployed on the battlefield, so that was definitely a concern,” Singh said, noting that the missile could carry conventional or nuclear warheads. She added that the United States was notified before the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels.
Putin said that the attack on the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine came in response to Kiev’s use of long-range American and British missiles in strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday on southern Russia. He added that these strikes caused a fire in an ammunition warehouse in the Russian region of Bryansk, and the killing and wounding of some members of the security services in the Kursk region.
“In the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond decisively and in kind,” the Russian president said, adding that Western leaders who plan to use their forces against Moscow should “seriously think about this matter.”
Putin said the Oreshnik missile fired on Thursday hit a well-known missile factory in Dnipro. He also said Russia would issue advance warnings if it launched further strikes using Oreshnik missiles against Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate to safety, something Moscow had not done before previous air attacks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially said Russia had not warned the United States about the upcoming launch of the new missile, indicating it was not obligated to do so. But he later changed his position and said that Moscow had issued a warning 30 minutes before the launch.
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Putin’s announcement came hours after Ukraine claimed that Russia used an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Dnipro attack, which wounded two people and damaged an industrial facility and a rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, according to local officials. But US officials said that the initial US assessment indicates that the strike was carried out with a medium-range ballistic missile.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram that the use of the missile was “a clear and dangerous escalation in the scale and brutality of this war, and is a cynical violation of the United Nations Charter.”
He added that there was no “strong global reaction” to the use of the missile, which he said could threaten other countries.
“Putin is very sensitive to this matter. He is testing you, dear partners,” Zelensky wrote. “If there is no tough response to Russia’s actions, it means they see such actions as possible,” Zelensky wrote.
The attack comes during a week of escalating tensions, as the United States eased restrictions on Ukraine’s use of longer-range American missiles inside Russia, and Putin lowered the threshold for launching nuclear weapons.
The Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement that the Dnipro attack was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea.
“Today, our crazy neighbor once again showed his true colors,” Zelensky said hours before Putin’s speech. “How scared he is.”
Matthew Saville, director of military science at the institute, said Russia was sending a message by attacking Ukraine with a medium-range ballistic missile capable of launching multiple warheads at extremely high speeds, even if it is less accurate than cruise missiles or short-range ballistic missiles. The Royal United Services Institute, a think tank based in London.
“Why would you use it then?” Savile said. “Signaling – pointing to the Ukrainians. We have things to piss you off but in reality, we are signaling to the West that we are happy to enter into a competition over intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Note: These could be nuclear-tipped. Do you really want to take that risk?”
Military experts say modern ICBMs and ICBMs are extremely difficult to intercept, although Ukraine has previously claimed to have stopped some other weapons that Russia has described as “unstoppable,” including the hypersonic Kinzhal missile. Sound that comes from the air.
David Albright, of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, said he was “skeptical” of Putin’s claims, adding that Russian technology “sometimes fails.”
He pointed out that Putin was “mocking the West for trying to bring it down… like a braggart, mocking his enemy.”
Earlier this week, the Biden administration allowed Ukraine to use longer-range U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper into Russia — a move that sparked an angry response from Moscow.
Days later, Ukraine fired several missiles at Russia, according to the Kremlin. On the same day, Putin signed a new doctrine that allows for a possible nuclear response even if it is a conventional attack on Russia by any country backed by a nuclear power.
This principle has been broadly formulated to avoid strict adherence to the use of nuclear weapons. In response, Western countries, including the United States, said Russia used irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and behavior throughout the war to intimidate Ukraine and other countries.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that Russia’s official lowering of the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons has not led to any changes in American doctrine.
She rejected concerns that the decision to allow Ukraine to use Western missiles to strike deeper into Russia could lead to an escalation of the war.
“They are the ones escalating this,” she said of the Kremlin, in part because of the influx of North Korean troops being sent to the region.
More than a thousand days into the war, Russia has the upper hand, as its largest army advances in Donetsk, and Ukrainian civilians suffer from relentless drone and missile attacks.
Analysts and observers say that easing restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western missiles is unlikely to change the course of the war, but it puts the Russian military in a more vulnerable position and could complicate logistics that are crucial to the war.
Putin also warned that the move would mean Russia and NATO are at war.
“It is an important step and one that challenges and undermines the narrative that Putin was trying to prove that it was fine for Russia to rain down Iranian drones and North Korean missiles on Ukraine, but a reckless escalation of Ukraine’s use of West-supplied weapons.” “The attacks are on legitimate targets in Russia,” said Peter Ricketts, a former British national security adviser who is now a member of the House of Lords.
Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Emma Burrows in London, and Zeke Miller and Lolita See contributed to this report. Baldur in Washington. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine on https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
