President Vladimir Putin announced in a video address published Thursday evening that the Russian military has tested one of its newest medium-range ballistic missiles, the “Oreshnik.”
According to Putin, Russia carried out a strike on a defense facility in Dnipro using a ballistic missile equipped with a non-nuclear payload. He claimed there are currently no air defense systems capable of intercepting the Oreshnik missile.
The Russian president said the test was conducted in response to the Ukrainian military’s attack on targets in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions in recent days using American ATACMS and French-British Storm Shadow missiles. He also said that the Oreshnik’s deployment was a reaction to plans by the U.S. to produce and deploy medium- and short-range missiles.
The Oreshnik is not an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russian forces had launched an ICBM at Ukraine, though did not provide further details. Soon after, an unnamed Western official disputed the reports, telling ABC News that the attack likely used a medium-range ballistic missile.
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