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Russia-Ukraine War: Russia continues to intensify its assault on Ukraine following the latter’s use of US-made ATACMS missiles which targeted locations inside Russia proper. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Moscow had decimated a Ukrainian military base using new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile called ‘Oreshnik’.
Although not much is known about the Oreshnik hypersonic missile, Ukrainian authorities said the projectile was clocked at over 13,000 km/hour, and reached its target in Ukraine’s Dnipro city within a mere 15 minutes after its launch.
Russia’s latest ballistic missile attack on Ukraine is a clear message to the United States and NATO nations, that Moscow will not hesitate to use lethal force against its enemies. The escalation comes after Ukraine, for the first first time since the war broke out in February 2022, launched US’ ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles against targets inside Russia proper, prompting Moscow to change its nuclear doctrine, which has triggered fears of nuclear conflict.
Putin warned that Moscow will not hesitate to use its new hypersonic missiles against countries which have allowed Ukraine to fire missiles deep into Russian territory.
According to the Ukrainian army, the Oreshnik hypersonic missile reached the target in Dnipro city within a mere 15 minutes from its launch in the Astrakhan Oblast region in southern Russia.
“The missile was equipped with six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. The speed in the final part of the trajectory was more than Mach 11, which is approximately equal to 13,600 kilometers per hour,” the Ukrainian military said.
They said that Russia may test at least 10 more similar missiles in coming days. Earlier, Kyiv had claimed that Russia had launched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), but later the US and NATO described it as a medium-range ballistic missile, a speculation later verified by President Putin.
Earlier, while responding to Kyiv’s recent assault, Russia rained down Kh-101 cruise missiles on Ukrainian city of Dnipro using the Tu-95MSM bombers, which took off from the Engels airfield in Russia. Tu-95MSM strategic bombers operate from Volgograd and Engels airfields.
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