Russian President Vladimir Putin Photo: AP
For the first time, Russian troops have struck Ukraine with a non-nuclear hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile. This was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his address to Russian citizens on 21 November.
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According to Putin, the target of the attack was the Southern Machine-Building Plant in Dnipro, which he called “a defence facility of Ukraine”. The Kremlin explains the strike as a response to the alleged use of US and British weapons in attacks on Russian targets.
“The latest medium-range missile system was tested in combat conditions. In this case, it was non-nuclear,” Putin said. He also added that it was a combined strike, but did not provide details about other types of weapons.
The Russian leader emphasised that the Kremlin “considers itself entitled to use weapons against the targets of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russian targets”. Thus, Putin actually voiced a new escalation doctrine that extends threats not only to Ukraine, but also to Western countries that supply weapons for its defence.
Traditionally, Putin called Oreshnik a technology that “has no analogues in the world”. According to him, there are currently no global means of countering this missile, which he interpreted as further evidence of Russia’s military superiority.
However, independent experts have not yet confirmed the effectiveness of this missile or its use.
