The Russian dictator said he would use the new Oreshnik missiles to turn areas of Ukraine “to dust” in blasts “comparable to nuclear weapons” during a speech in Kazakhstan
Vladimir Putin discusses Russia’s new Oreshnik missile
Putin has vowed to incinerate Ukraine with new missiles firing warheads almost as hot as on the surface of the sun.
The Russian dictator said he would use the new Oreshnik missiles to turn areas of Ukraine “to dust” in blasts “comparable to nuclear weapons”.
In a speech to ex-Soviet state leaders in Kazakhstan Putin vowed to ramp up his country’s production of hypersonic missiles, in a bid to outpace the West’s ability to supply Ukraine.
Boasting about his new super-weapon Oreshnik, he said that in future it would be devastating in the destruction it caused. “Of course, there are no equivalents in the world,” he said.
“This is 10 Mach. This is about three kilometres per second. The temperature of the damaging elements reaches 4,000C degrees…. On the surface of the sun, the temperature is 5,500-6,000 degrees.”
Last week saw the first wartime deployment of Russia ’s Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, which split into several sections, none of which was armed with a warhead, striking the city of Dnipro in Ukraine.
The launch was called a “test” by Putin, but he warned future missiles would be armed. He said: “Therefore, everything that is located in the epicentre of the explosion is divided into fractions, into elementary particles, turn, in fact, into dust.
“The missile is striking even highly protected and located at great depths of objects…. The power of this blow will be comparable with the use of nuclear weapons, although the weapons of mass destruction of the Oreshnik are of course not nuclear.”
He threatened: “In stock today we have several ready-made products of this kind. And, of course, the continuing blows on the territory of Russia of large-range missiles of Western production, as already mentioned, we will answer, including a possible continuation of the test of Oreshnik in combat conditions, as was done on November 21.”
Putin also warned that production of his other missiles was being ramped up – even as his economy is creaking with a dramatic fall in his rouble currency. “As you know, officials of Western countries in early November announced the permission of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to strike Russia with high-precision weapons of long-range of Western production.
“We have repeatedly paid attention to the fact that this would mean the direct involvement of these countries in an armed conflict…. As for the production of the relevant missile systems corresponding to the equipment, in Russia it is ten times more than the total production of all NATO countries combined.
“Next year this production will be increased by another 25-30%. We see that the leaders of the Kyiv regime beg [missiles] from their owners – and other military equipment. Let no one forget the Kalibr missile, the Dagger hypersonic missile systems , Zircon which in their characteristics have no analogues in the world, are in service with us.
“Their production is also increased, in full swing. In our menu of this class of [missiles] others may appear in the near future…. As in such cases they say, the client will certainly be satisfied. By the way, it was precisely these weapons systems that we used over the past two days in response to the continuation of the attacks by ATACMS missiles on the territory of Russia.”
“In total, 100 systems were used, 100 missiles that I just talked about. And 466 drones.” He failed to mention hitting Ukrainian energy facilities – causing hard to civilians in freezing temperatures as they are left without power.
“Overnight we inflicted a comprehensive blow using 90 missiles of such classes and 100 drones to achieve 17 goals. These are military facilities, facilities of the defence industry and their support system. I repeat once again these blows on our part also took place in response to ongoing blows on the Russian territory by American ATACMS missiles.
“ As already mentioned repeatedly, on our part there will always be an answer.” Putin was speaking at a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Astana.
The meeting brought together Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, and host Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.