Putin threatens to hit kyiv with his “Oreshnik” missile

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Thursday to strike decision-making centers in kyiv with his powerful “Orechnik” missile.

He has so far not followed through on his threats, but has attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with massive missile and drone strikes for the eleventh time this year, according to kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of carrying out the strikes with “cluster munitions”. This constitutes a “despicable escalation”, he denounced. On the subject of the heavy missile, he called for a “firm response” to Putin’s “blackmail”.

The Russian president, for his part, praised the merits of this “Orechnik” missile with a range of several thousand kilometers, designed to carry nuclear warheads.

It is capable of striking anywhere in Europe, even without being equipped with nuclear warheads, according to him.

“If you use several of these systems in one strike – two, three, four – then, in terms of its power, it is comparable to the use of a nuclear weapon,” he said. asserted to journalists, comparing the missile to “a meteorite”.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country is a loyal supporter of kyiv, judged that Vladimir Putin’s threats demonstrated his “weakness” more than anything else.

“The fact that he so often uses very harsh threats in his rhetoric testifies to his weakness rather than his strength,” responded Mr. Tusk, questioned about this threat during a joint press conference with his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson.

On Wednesday, Poland, the Baltic and Nordic countries said they wanted to strengthen their military support for Ukraine and called for an extension of sanctions against Russia.

“We will not let ourselves be frightened by threats of this kind, we will support Ukraine as long as it needs it,” insisted Mr. Tusk.

Russia has intensified its military pressure on Ukraine in recent weeks, less than two months before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, seen as a possible turning point.

Very critical of the billions of dollars released by Washington for Ukraine, the president-elect promised to resolve the conflict even before taking the oath of office on January 20, without ever explaining how.

On Thursday, Vladimir Putin, who rubbed shoulders with Donald Trump during his first stint at the White House between 2017 and 2021, described him as an “intelligent man” with “a lot of experience”, capable of “finding” solutions.

On the front, Russian forces have made territorial gains in recent weeks, at a speed not seen since the start of 2022, against a weakened Ukrainian army, particularly around the towns of Pokrovsk, Kourakhové and Koupiansk.

In this very uncertain context, the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on kyiv to lower the minimum age for military mobilization to 18 years – instead of the current 25 years – to replenish the ranks.