Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that Russia may target “decision-making centres” in Kyiv as a response to Ukraine’s long-range missile strikes on Russian soil using Western weapons.
So far, Russian forces have avoided attacking government buildings in the Ukrainian capital, which is heavily shielded by air defences. However, Putin emphasized that Russia’s Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which was recently deployed in combat for the first time, is not vulnerable to interception.
“We will respond to the ongoing attacks on Russian territory with long-range Western missiles,” Putin said during a meeting with a security alliance of former Soviet nations in Kazakhstan. “This could include testing the Oreshnik missile further in combat, as we did on November 21.”
Putin confirmed that Russia’s military is currently identifying possible targets in Ukraine. These may include military bases, defence facilities, industrial plants, or even decision-making centres located in Kyiv.
The tensions escalated after Ukraine reportedly launched U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic missiles into western Russia on November 19. In retaliation, Russia fired the Oreshnik missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro two days later. Russia also claims that Ukraine launched additional ATACMS at its Kursk region on November 23 and November 25.
In his remarks, Putin also stated that Russia is outpacing NATO in missile production, claiming that Russia's production of advanced missile systems is currently ten times higher than that of the
NATO alliance, and plans are in place to further increase output.
Reports quote as Putin saying:
Ukrainian officials stated that the attacks targeted energy infrastructure, leaving at least one million people without power earlier on Thursday due to emergency blackouts.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of using cluster munitions, calling it "a very vile escalation of Russian terrorist tactics."
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