Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin hails ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic missiles as Moscow ramps up threats to West

Russian president Vladimir Putin said Russia will begin mass producing its new “Oreshnik” hypersonic ballistic missile that it fired at Ukraine on Thursday.

“There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system,” Mr Putin said in a televised meeting on Friday.

Experts say Oreshnik may be capable of flying at nearly 10 times the speed of sound and could strike targets up to 5,500km (3,400 miles) away.

Kremlin said it used the new missile in Ukraine in response to “Western escalation”.

“It is necessary to establish serial production,” the Russian president said.

Russia has reportedly provided air defense missile systems to North Korea in exchange for the over 10,000 troops it sent Kremlin to fight the war in Ukraine.

The missiles, seemingly anti-aircraft weapons, and other equipment were provided to help Pyongyang reinforce its air defense network, a top South Korean official said on Friday, according to the Associated Press.

However, it remains unclear what specific missiles Russia gave North Korea.

Experts suspect the deal was likely made by North Korea to bolster its air defence as the South flew drones over Pyongyang last month, scattering propaganda leaflets.

Ukraine’s air force initially said the missile was an intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) - the kind that Russia could hit the United States with.

But the US military later said the weapon was an intermediate-range missile (IRBM) based on the design of Russia’s longer-range RS-26 ICBM missile

The Pentagon said it was fired with a conventional warhead but Moscow could modify it if it wanted, with Russia only possessing a handful of them.

“It could be refitted to certainly carry different types of conventional or nuclear warheads,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia’s use of its new “Oreshnik” missile was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukraine using US and UK-made weapons.

In his televised meeting with Russian defence officials, Mr Putin hinted at escalating conflict warning the West to back off in a coded message.

“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” the Russian president said.

“If anyone else doubts this, then they are wrong - there will always be a response,” he said.

Experts say the new hypersonic missile used by Russia may have the potential to be equipped with nuclear warheads and could reach as far as Europe or the west coast of the US.

“Putin is saying to the West stop - halt - back off,” former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov told Reuters.

Russia used its new missile known as “Oreshnik”, or Hazel Tree, for the first time to target Ukraine’s Dnipro city on Thursday.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said the missile was an intermediate-range weapon fired in response to Ukrainian forces striking Russia with US and British missiles.

Such weapons usually have a range of 3,000-5,500 km (1,860-3,415 miles), which means they could likely be used to launch strikes from Russia to anywhere in Europe or the western US.

Ukraine said in a new assessment that the missile reached top speeds of over 13,000 kph (8,000 mph), taking just about 15 minutes to reach its target.

Some weapons experts say the missile appears to be capable of carrying multiple warheads with the potential to strike different targets simultaneously.

These kinds of features are usually associated with longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address that the missile’s use signified an escalation of the war, adding that his officials are holding meetings with the country’s partners to procure new air defence systems.

But not everyone is convinced about the weapon’s destructiveness.

Fabian Hoffman, a defence expert at the University of Oslo, told the Kyiv Independent that the Oreshnik missiles appear to be a redesigned version of an already existing weapon RS-26 Rubezh.

“I’d be extremely shocked if this missile system had more than 10 per cent new parts,” Mr Hoffman said.

“I think basically they just took apart the RS-26 or just cannibalized it, and then put together this new missile with a couple of upgrades, and a new paint job,” he said.

The governor of Russia’s Kursk border region said on Friday that 46 Russian civilian residents of Kursk held by Ukraine had been returned to Russia following negotiations with Kyiv.

Alexei Smirnov said the civilians, including 12 children, had been moved by Ukrainian troops into Ukraine after Kyiv staged a cross-border incursion into the western Russian region of Kursk in August.

Ukraine continues to control part of the region despite Russian attempts to dislodge Kyiv’s forces.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has warned that the growing Russia-China partnership could have a deep impact on the Ukraine war.

Mr Campbell said Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have “chosen each other” with China supporting Russia’s defence industry.

He said the strategic partnership is “animating itself in a number of ways that are going to be deeply concerning”.

“China has believed that the United States is in hurtling decline, and they are determined to try to take steps to replace many elements of American power,” the envoy said, according to SCMP.