Reversal News Desk,
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an open challenge to the West with Moscow’s new model of hypersonic missile, the ‘Oreshnik’.
Putin asked the West to choose a target in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and strengthen their defenses. He also advised them to try to repel a Russian attack there.
In response to journalists’ questions at the end-of-year press conference, Vladimir Putin said, “Let them (the West and the United States) choose a target in Kiev and gather their air and missile defense systems there. And we will launch an Oresnik missile at that target. Let’s see what happens. We are ready for such tests.”
The president said that due to its technical characteristics, it is impossible to stop the Oresnik hypersonic warhead.
Putin suggested that the results of such a “conflict” (test) would be of great interest to both Russia and the United States, whose air defense system is currently operating in Ukraine.
The Russian military conducted its first combat test of the Oreshnik on November 21. It is designed to destroy a Ukrainian military-industrial facility with multiple hypersonic warheads.
Putin said at the time that the decision to deploy the Oreshnik missile was made in response to Ukraine’s long-range attacks on internationally recognized Russian territory, with Western permission.
Putin explained that the Oreshnik can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads. It can travel at ten times the speed of sound, making it impossible for Western air defenses to intercept it.
