Russia says hypersonic missile strike on Ukraine was a warning to ‘reckless’ West

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By Dmitry Antonov, Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Friday that a strike on Ukraine using a newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile was a message to the West that Moscow will respond harshly to any “reckless” Western actions in support of Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was speaking a day after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had fired the new missile – the Oreshnik or Hazel Tree – at a Ukrainian military facility in response to Kyiv striking Russia with U.S.-made and British-made missiles this week for the first time after the U.S. granted its approval.

“The main message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries that produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine, and subsequently participate in strikes on Russian territory cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side,” Peskov told reporters.

“The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns are not taken into account have been quite clearly outlined,” he said.

Moscow has said it regards Ukraine’s firing of ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia as proof of direct U.S. and British involvement in the war. It says satellite targeting data and the actual programming of the missiles’ flight paths must be done by NATO military personnel because Kyiv does not have the capabilities itself. 

Putin said Moscow had struck a missile and defence enterprise in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where missile and space rocket company Pivdenmash, known as Yuzhmash by Russians, is based.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday that all of the missile’s warheads had hit their targets and hailed what it said was its first successful use of an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile with conventional warheads in combat.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia’s use of the new missile amounts to “a clear and severe escalation” and has called for strong worldwide condemnation. 

Peskov said Russia had not been technically obliged to warn the United States about the strike because the missile used had been intermediate-range rather than intercontinental, but he said Moscow had informed the U.S. 30 minutes before the launch anyway.

He said Putin remained open to dialogue, but that the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden “prefers to continue down the path of escalation” and urged it to heed a warning Putin issued in September.

Putin said at the time that the West would be directly fighting with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles, a move he said would alter the nature and scope of the conflict and force Moscow to take “appropriate decisions” based on the new threats.

In his televised remarks on Thursday, Putin said that Russia had fired its new missile after Ukraine, with approval from the Biden administration, had struck Russia with six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles on Tuesday and with British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and U.S.-made HIMARS on Thursday.

Peskov said he hoped that the U.S. had received and understood Moscow’s message. 

“As for openness to dialogue, even in yesterday’s statement the president stressed his readiness for any contacts – both with a view to de-escalation, to avoiding further escalation, and to reaching a peaceful trajectory,” said Peskov. 

“Yesterday’s statement (from Putin) was very comprehensive, clear, and logical. We have no doubt that the current administration in Washington had the opportunity to familiarise itself with this statement and understand it.”

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov Writing by Andrew Osborn and Mark Trevelyan Editing by Frances Kerry)