“No one can stop the Oreshnik missile” –

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will carry out further tests of the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile in “combat conditions”, a day after launching one over Ukraine. “We will continue these tests, including under combat conditions, depending on the situation and the character of the security threats posed to Russia,” Putin said at a meeting with military leaders. Russia fired its next-generation missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday morning, in a major escalation of its weapons deployment in a conflict that has lasted almost three years. The Kremlin chief also ordered the missile, which flies at a speed of Mach 10 – 10 times the speed of sound – to be put into series production. Russia is developing similar advanced systems, he added. “We need to start mass production. The decision… has actually been made,” Putin said, praising the “particular strength of this weapon and its power. The weapon system tested yesterday is another faithful guarantee of Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he added.

Putin said that no other country in the world possesses similar missile technology. While admitting that other states will develop them soon, he said: “It will be tomorrow, after a year or two. But we have this system now. It’s important.” His meeting with the defense minister and those responsible for developing the missile came at the end of a week that saw a rapid escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. Putin said the launch of the Oreshnik missile was a direct response to Kiev’s forces using US- and UK-supplied missiles on Russian territory for the first time. And the threat to Europe appears evident, when the head of the Kremlin stated: “There is no reaction to such a missile, no means to intercept it in the world today,” he said.

The Oreshnik missile system has characteristics that allow it to hit targets across Europe, the commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, Sergei Karakaev, told the Russian president during the meeting. “This missile system with hypersonic units can hit any target with high efficiency. Depending on the assigned tasks and the range of the weapon, it can hit targets throughout Europe. Which distinguishes it from other long-range precision weapons,” he said .