Putin says Ukraine was hit by new mid-range ballistic missile ‘Oreshnik’

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (Nov. 21) claimed that Russia has hit Ukraine with new mid-range ballistic missiles. He specified that the strike was carried out by a ballistic missile with a non-nuclear hypersonic warhead. Putin was addressing the nation about the Ukraine conflict, according to state media.

Putin said Russia carried out "testing in combat conditions of one of the newest Russian mid-range missile systems... Our engineers named it Oreshnik”.

"I would like to inform the personnel of the Russian Armed Forces, the citizens of our country, our friends around the world, as well as those who continue to harbor illusions about the possibility of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, about the events that are taking place today in the SVO zone, namely after the use of long-range weapons of Western manufacture on our territory," Putin said as reported by state media agency Ria Novosti.

He emphasised that on November 19, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked targets in the Bryansk region with six ATACMS missiles and on November 21, with Storm Shadow systems in the Kursk region, but there were no casualties or serious damage as the air defence systems repelled the attack.

“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” The Russian president further said.

Earlier in the day, Ukraine claimed that Russia had launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from its southern Astrakhan region, saying it was a ballistic missile.

Also read: Speed, altitude of missile under ‘examination’ as West shoots down Zelensky’s ICBM claim

However, a Western official denied the claim, saying, “It was instead a ballistic missile, which was aimed at Dnipro, in Ukraine’s southeast.” 

‘Elements of a global character’

In a surprise address on Thursday evening, Putin further said that the conflict in Ukraine had taken on “elements of a global character”. 

Referring to the Ukraine launching its first strikes on Russian territory using Western-supplied weapons, he said, “The conflict in Ukraine has acquired elements of a global character."

He added that Russia 'has right' to hit states whose weapons Ukraine uses to strike Russia, AFP reported. 

This comes after Ukrainian armed forces fired British-made Storm Shadow long-range missiles inside Russia for the first time on Wednesday. 

Watch | Russia-Ukraine War: Why is Ukraine Firing American & British Missiles on Russia?

The residents in the village of Marino, Kursk, found fragments from a Storm Shadow missile, reported the Telegraph. 

Before that, Ukraine also carried out their first strike in a border region within Russian territory with an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile. 

This comes after administration of US President Joe Biden permitted Ukraine to use US-made long-range missiles to target inside Russia. 

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(With inputs from agencies)