After striking Ukraine with Oreshnik missile, Putin orders continued tests, serial production of weapon

A day after firing hypersonic missile on Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Moscow would carry out more tests of Oreshnik missile in “combat conditions” and ordered its serial production.

“We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and character of the security threats posted to Russia,” AFP Putin as saying in a televised meeting with military chiefs.

Praising the strength of Oreshnik missile, Putin ordered the missile, which flies at speeds of Mach 10 - 10 times the speed of sound - to be put into serial production.

“We need to begin serial production. The decision… has in effect been taken,” added Putin.

In a major escalation of the weaponry being deployed in the nearly three-year conflict, Russia fired the new-generation missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro early Thursday.

“The weapon system that was tested yesterday (Thursday) is another faithful guarantee of Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he was quoted as saying.

Putin claimed that no other countries in the world possessed such missile technology.

While he acknowledged that other nations would eventually develop similar capabilities, he said, “That will be tomorrow, after a year or two. But we have this system now. That’s important.”

His staged meeting with the defence minister and the officials responsible for developing the missile came at the conclusion of a week marked by a sharp escalation in the Ukraine conflict.

Putin said the launch of the Oreshnik missile was a direct response to Ukraine’s use of US- and UK-supplied missiles on Russian soil for the first time.

In a televised address on Thursday, Putin declared that Russia reserved the right to target military facilities in countries whose weapons were being used by Ukraine, specifically naming the United States and Britain.

With inputs from agencies