MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said on Friday (Nov 22) that Russia would keep testing its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile in combat and had a stock ready for use.
Putin was speaking a day after Russia fired the new intermediate-range weapon into Ukraine for the first time, a step he said was prompted by Ukraine’s use of US ballistic missiles and British cruise missiles to hit Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was working with its Western partners to work out systems to counter “new risks”.
Putin described the first use of Oreshnik (hazel tree) as a successful test, and said more would follow.
“We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and the nature of the security threats that are created for Russia,” he said in televised comments to defence officials and missile developers.
“Moreover, we have a stock of such products, a stock of such systems ready for use.”
A US official said the weapon Russia used was an experimental one. The official said Russia has a limited number of them and that this is not a capability that Russia is able to regularly deploy on the battlefield.
Intermediate missiles have a range of 3,000km to 5,500km, which would enable them to strike anywhere in Europe or the western United States from Russia.
