Vladimir Putin spoke in a televised address on November 21, 2024, where he confirmed the use of a medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile without nuclear warhead, used to bomb the city of Dnipro, in Ukraine. He does not rule out striking countries whose weapons are used by Ukraine in Russia.
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The Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday, November 21 that its forces struck theUkraine with a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile, after a shot at the city of Dnipro which did not carry a nuclear charge. “ Our engineers called it Orechnik “, declared Vladimir Putin during an address to the nation. According to him, this strike targeted “ a site of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex “.
In his speech lasting less than 10 minutes, the Russian president denounced two recent strikes carried out by Ukraine on Russian soil using American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles and considered that the conflict in Ukraine had taken a “ global character », by holding responsible the Westerners who authorized the use of American and European missiles on Russian soil.
“ From the moment when [ces missiles ont été tirés sur la Russie]and as we have emphasized many times (beforehand), the conflict provoked by the West in Ukraine has taken on the elements of a [conflit] global in nature “, said the Russian president, affirming however that the Western missile strikes fired by Ukraine towards Russian territory had failed.
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“ In the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond equally strongly »
Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that his country is “ ready for everyone » the scenarios in the conflict between Ukraine and its Western allies.
“ We have always been ready, and we still are, to resolve all problems by peaceful means, but we are also ready to face any developments “, he declared in this speech broadcast on Russian television. “ If anyone still doubts it, it’s useless. There will always be an answer “, he warned, without excluding hitting countries whose weapons are used by Ukraine in Russia.
“ We consider ourselves within our rights to use our weapons against the military installations of countries that authorize the use of their weapons against our installations. And in the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond just as strongly “, he declared in a surprise speech to the nation.
An invincible missile, says Vladimir Putin
According to Vladimir Putin, this hypersonic missile is invincible.
“ Today there is no way to counter such weapons. The missiles attack targets at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second. The air defense systems currently available in the world and the missile defense systems created by the Americans in Europe do not intercept these missiles. This is excluded “, he insisted.
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“A worrying development”, says the UN
Moscow’s use of a new medium-range ballistic missile to strike Ukraine is a “worrying new development”, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary General said on Thursday.
“ This is a worrying and worrying new development, it’s all going in the wrong direction », declared Stéphane Dujarric to the press. He called on the parties to take “ urgent steps towards de-escalation to ensure the protection of civilians and critical civilian infrastructure », repeating the call of the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, for an end to this war in compliance with international law.