November 22, 2024, 06:20

Putin is “testing” the West after using a new ballistic missile against Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has warned.

The Russian president confirmed on Thursday that Russia had hit Ukraine with a new “intermediate-range” ballistic missile.

He also issued a chilling warning to the UK and US, saying Russia could strike the military installations of any country whose weapons were used against it.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Putin is “testing” the West and that he must now rise to the challenge.

Read more: Putin issues dire warning to UK, US, confirms Russia hit Ukraine with new ‘experimental’ ballistic missile

“Russia conducted combat tests of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile system in response to the aggressive actions of NATO countries against Russia,” Putin said in the video message.

“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the installations of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine.

“Under combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things. In this case, with a ballistic missile in a non-nuclear hypersonic equipment.”

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Responding to the address, Zelenskyy said: “The world must respond. At the moment, there is no strong reaction from the world.

“Putin is very sensitive to this. It’s testing you, dear partners. It is clear who is the sole culprit of this war – who started it on February 24 and who continues to pour all resources into its continuation. It must be stopped.

“The lack of harsh reactions to Russia’s actions sends a message that such behavior is acceptable. This is what Putin is doing.”

It comes after Russia’s ambassador to Britain warned that Britain was now “directly involved” in the war.

Read more: Britain must learn from Sweden to boost defenses as tensions rise with Russia, military chief says

Read more: Ukraine launches ‘British-supplied storm shadow missiles at Russia’ for first time

Earlier this week, Ukraine used long-range missiles supplied by the US and Britain on Russian territory.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had struck the country with US-supplied ATACMS missiles.

Five missiles were shot down and one was damaged, with the fragments causing a sizeable fire at a military installation in the region, it said in a statement.

A day later, residents of the village of Marino, near the city of Kursk, claimed to have found fragments of UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk confirmed to LBC’s Andrew Marr that they were used – but only on internationally recognized Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia, such as Crimea.

Russia continued to fire its missile from a base in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan on Thursday morning, targeting critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Kiev’s air force said.

An industrial enterprise was damaged in the attack and caused two fires.

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Russia has since threatened to strike US air bases in Poland with “advanced weapons” as tensions continue to rise.

The new ballistic missile defense base in Redzikowo was included in a list of possible targets due to the increase in the “general level of nuclear danger”.

It opened on 13 November as part of a larger NATO anti-missile shield.

“This is another frankly provocative step in a series of deeply destabilizing actions by the Americans and their allies,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

She continued: “The Polish missile defense base has been added to the list of priority targets for potential destruction which, if necessary, can be carried out with a wide range of advanced weapons.”

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It comes after the US embassy in Kiev was forced to temporarily close amid concerns of a “significant airstrike”.

Embassy employees were told to shelter in place if an air alert was issued on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Putin also signed a new doctrine that lowers the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

The doctrine stated that any aggression against Russia by a state that was a member of a coalition would be considered by Moscow as aggression against it by the entire coalition.

Dmitri Medvedev, who is the vice-president of the security council, confirmed the decision on Twitter on Tuesday: “Russia’s new nuclear doctrine means that NATO missiles launched against our country could be considered an attack by the bloc on Russia.

“Russia could retaliate with WMD against Kiev and key NATO installations wherever they are. This means World War III.”