Vladimir Putin has ramped up production of a new hypersonic missile he fired against Ukraine last week, boasting ‘no one in the world has such weapons’.
The Russian despot fired the new Oreshnik missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday, after Ukraine fired American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow long-range missiles deep into Russia.
The Oreshnik, which means hazel tree, travels at speeds of around 8,370 miles per hour, and is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads.
But Putin told the Russian nation in a televised address that the missile fired at a military-industrial site in Dnipro used conventional warheads.
After firing the Oreshnik, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned Britain and America of their ‘reckless’ action in supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine.
Peskov said: ‘The main message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries that produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine, and subsequently participate in strikes on Russian territory cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side.’
This weekend, Putin boasted that no country in the world has the power to intercept the Oreshnik missiles, which fly at ten times the speed of sound. He said: ‘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. It is necessary to establish serial production.’
He added: ‘No one in the world has such weapons. Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.’
The missile being fired into Ukraine led the country’s parliament to cancel a session, as security in Kiyv was tightened.
Nato chiefs and Ukrainian leaders are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday.
But the West stood defiant against Putin last night, as France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, gave Ukraine the green light to fire French long-range missiles into Russia ‘in the logics of self-defence’.
He did not confirm if French weapons were already being used but said that there were no ‘red lines’ when it comes to supporting Ukraine.
Last night, a senior Ukrainian military source said that the country had lost 40 per cent of the territory it had gained in Russia’s Kursk region. The source said Russia had deployed 59,000 troops there, pushing Ukrainian troops back.
He said: ‘At most, we controlled about 531 square miles.’Now we control approximately 309 miles.’
President Zelensky revealed yesterday that Russian drone and missile attacks had damaged 321 Ukrainian port facilities since July last year.
He added that 20 merchant ships belonging to other countries had also been damaged by Russian strikes.
He said: ‘Ukrainian food exports provide food for 400 million people in 100 countries around the world. Food prices in Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and other countries in Africa directly depend on whether farmers and agricultural companies in Ukraine can operate normally.’
Last night, it emerged that Putin had signed a law which allowed pardon for debts up to £76,000 to anyone joining the army.
The law would wipe the debts of recruits in arrears with government agencies or banks.