Vladimir Putin has vowed to launch more strikes using an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile as Ukraine decried the testing of the nuclear-capable weapon on its territory as an “international crime”.
Speaking at a defence conference on Friday, Putin contested US claims that Russia possessed only a “handful” of the high-speed ballistic missiles, saying that the military had enough to continue to test them in “combat conditions” and would put them into serial production.
“The tests [of the missile system] have passed successfully, and I congratulate you all on that,” Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency. “As has been said already, we’ll be continuing these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and nature of threats being posed to Russia’s security, especially considering that we have enough of such items, such systems ready for use in stock.”
At the same conference, the Russian strategic missile forces commander Sergei Karakayev said that the missiles could strike targets throughout Europe.
“Depending on the objectives and the range of this weapon, it can strike targets on the entire territory of Europe, which sets it apart from other types of long-range precision-guided weapons,” Karakayev said.
Russia launched the experimental missile, which US officials described as a modified design based on Russia’s longer-range RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile, against a rocket factory in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Both Vladimir Putin and US officials have said the missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
US officials have decried Putin’s use of a nuclear-capable warhead but denied that it is a “gamechanger” in the war between Russia and Ukraine, adding that Russia possessed just a handful of the missiles, which its military has named Oreshnik, or Hazel.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia’s use of an experimental ballistic missile in a strike on Ukraine an “international crime” as he appealed on Friday to countries around the world including the global south to condemn Russia’s latest escalation.
In an address on social media, Zelenskyy said he had already directed his defence minister to hold consultations with allies to secure new air defence systems that could “protect lives from the new risks” of the intermediate-range missiles.
“Using another country not just for terror but also to test new weapons for terror is clearly an international crime,” the Ukrainian president said.
Nato and Ukraine will hold emergency talks on Tuesday to discuss the attack.
The conflict is “entering a decisive phase”, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions”.
Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened after Thursday’s Russian strike on the military facility in Dnipro.
Aside from western partners, Zelenskyy called on China and members of the global south, to condemn the strike, saying that the leaders “call for restraint every time, and in response they invariably receive some new escalation from Moscow”.
China and Brazil have proposed a joint “peace plan” that Ukraine has said only emboldens Russia by providing diplomatic cover for the continued assault on Ukraine.
