Russian President Warns US And UK As New Missile Hits Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his forces launched a new non-nuclear ballistic missile with medium range on Ukraine’s Dnipro region on Thursday. Putin ordered the attack in response to Ukraine’s firing US and British-supplied longer-range weapons to hit targets inside Russia. At least three people were injured in the attack, and a number of buildings were also damaged.

The Biden-led US administration and the UK had authorised the use of US ATACMS and UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles this week, in a major change of policy. “We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against the military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” Putin said in a televised statement, as quoted by Associated Press. “And in case of escalation of aggressive actions we will respond resolutely in a mirror way," added the president. Vladimir Putin has warned earlier that use of Western weapons would mean that NATO and Russia are at war.

Putin also said that the missile was called “Oreshnik,” which in Russian means “hazelnut tree.” It is to be noted that the intermediate-range missiles, or IRBMs, have the capacity to fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers. At the same time, the Pentagon's deputy press secretary, Sabrina Singh, said that the United States had been notified "briefly" before the missile was launched. The US was notified through Nuclear Risk Reduction channels, which are used to exchange information on issues, including missile launch notifications.