The Kremlin fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use this week of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia, President Vladimir Putin said.
In a televised address to the country, the Russian president warned that U.S. air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at Mach 10 and is called the Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree. He also said it 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 military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” Putin said in his first comments since President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light this month to use U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike at limited targets inside Russia.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that Russia’s missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
“This was new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield, so that was certainly of concern,” Singh said, noting that the U.S. was notified ahead of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels.
The attack Thursday on Dnipro in central Ukraine came in response to Kyiv’s use of longer-range U.S. and British missiles in strikes on Russia this week, Putin said.
“In the event of escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond resolutely in a mirror way,” he said.
Putin said the Oreshnik struck a well-known missile factory in Dnipro. He also said Russia would issue advance warnings if it launches more strikes with the Oreshnik against Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate to safety — something Moscow hasn’t previously done.
Putin’s announcement came hours after Ukraine claimed that Russia had 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.
The Ukrainian air force said the Dnipro attack was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region, on the Caspian Sea.
“Today, our crazy neighbor once again showed what he really is,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said hours before Putin’s address. “And how afraid he is.”
Also Thursday, Russia struck Zelenskyy’s home city, Kryvyi Rih, wounding 26 people, said the head of regional administration, Serhii Lysak. The missile strike caused damage to an administrative building, at least five multistory residential buildings and civilian vehicles.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defense systems shot down two British-made Storm Shadow missiles, six HIMARS rockets and 67 drones but didn’t say when or where the Storm Shadows were shot down or what they were targeting.