Ukraine or Westerners, Russia “ready for all” scenarios

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the conflict in Ukraine has taken on a “global character”, not ruling out striking the countries that supplied kyiv with weapons used recently against the territory of Russia, which is “ready to all” scenarios according to him.

Mr. Putin also confirmed that his forces struck Ukraine on Thursday with a new type of medium-range hypersonic missile, following a strike on the city of Dnipro that did not carry a nuclear warhead.

In an address to the nation lasting less than 10 minutes, Vladimir Putin denounced two recent strikes carried out by Ukraine on Russian soil using American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles.

“From the moment (these missiles were fired at Russia), and as we had repeatedly emphasized (beforehand), the conflict provoked by the West in Ukraine took on the elements of a (conflict ) of a global nature,” said the Russian president, his tone firm.

However, he claimed that the two Ukrainian attacks against military installations in the Russian regions of Bryansk and Kursk had “failed”. “We consider ourselves within our rights to use our weapons against the military installations of countries which authorize the use of their weapons against our installations,” warned Mr. Putin.

“And in the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond just as strongly,” he added.

Mr. Putin announced that in response to Western missile strikes in Russia, his forces fired on Ukraine on Thursday with a new type of hypersonic ballistic missile dubbed “Oreshnik”, which was in its “nuclear-free configuration”. This shot targeted “a site of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex,” he said.

Ukraine reported earlier in the day a strike with an unknown missile on the town of Dnipro, in the center-east of the country, which is home to the Pivdenmach group, which notably produces components for missiles.

According to Vladimir Putin, this new hypersonic missile is invincible. “Today there is no way to counter such weapons. The missiles attack targets at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second. The air defense systems currently available in the world and the missile defense systems created by the Americans in Europe do not intercept these missiles. This is excluded,” he insisted.

In the midst of the escalation of the conflict, Mr. Putin also assured that Russia was “ready for all” scenarios, both against Ukraine and against the West.

“We have always been ready, and we still are, to resolve all problems by peaceful means, but we are also ready to deal with any developments,” he said. “If anyone still doubts it, it’s useless. There will always be an answer,” he warned.