MOSCOW
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow would carry out more tests of the hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile in \u201ccombat conditions\u201d, a day after firing one on Ukraine.
\n\u201cWe will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and character of the security threats posted to Russia,\u201d Putin said in a televised meeting with military chiefs.
\nRussia fired the new-generation missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro early Thursday in a major escalation of the weaponry being deployed in the nearly three-year conflict.
\nThe Kremlin boss also ordered the missile, which flies at speeds of Mach 10 — 10 times the speed of sound — to be put into serial production. Russia is developing similar advanced systems, he added.
\n\u201cWe need to begin serial production. The decision… has in effect been taken,\u201d Putin said, praising the \u201cparticular strength of this weapon and its power.
\n\u201cThe weapon system that was tested yesterday is another faithful guarantee of Russia\u2019s territorial integrity and sovereignty,\u201d he added.
\nPutin claimed no other countries in the world had such missile technology. While he conceded other states would soon develop them, he said: \u201cThat will be tomorrow, after a year or two. But we have this system now. That\u2019s important.\u201d
\nHis choreographed meeting with the defence minister and those in charge of developing the missile came at the end of a week that has seen the Ukraine conflict escalate rapidly.
\nPutin said the firing of the Oreshnik missile was a direct response to Kyiv\u2019s forces using US- and UK-supplied missiles on Russian territory for the first time.
\nIn an address to the nation on Thursday, Putin said Russia reserved the right to fire missiles at military facilities in countries whose weapons are being used by Ukraine — specifically the United States and Britain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow would carry out more tests of the hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile in \u201ccombat conditions\u201d, a day after firing one on Ukraine. \u201cWe will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and character of the security threats posted to Russia,\u201d Putin said in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-445397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n