Putin says Russia hit Ukraine with Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the Russian army had fired a new medium-range ballistic missile, codenamed Oreshnik, at the city of Dnipro, allegedly in response to the use of U.S. and British long-range missiles by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

This was reported by Current Time with reference to a video address by the Russian leader, according to Ukrinform.

Putin claimed that on November 19 and 21, ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles were used to strike targets in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk regions.

“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons on November 21 this year, the Russian armed Forces launched a combined strike against one of the facilities of the Ukrainian defense industry,” said Putin.

The Russian dictator said that “the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was also tested in combat conditions”. “In this case, with a ballistic missile in non-nuclear hypersonic equipment,” he said.

He claims that there is currently no means of countering this weapon and that the missiles have a speed of Mach 10 (over 12,250 km/h).

In addition, Putin resorted to threats against Western countries, noting that Russia considers itself entitled to use its weapons against military targets of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russian facilities.

As reported, on the morning of November 21, Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, one Kinzhal missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles on Dnipro city. Anti-aircraft missile units intercepted and destroyed six Kh-101 missiles.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces fired UK Storm Shadow cruise missiles to strike military targets in Russia for the first time.

On November 17, the leaders of the Republican Party in the US Senate confirmed the Biden administration's decision to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range ATACMS missiles.