The Kremlin strongman spoke after a day of frayed nerves with Russia testing a new generation of medium-range missiles in Ukraine — which Putin has suggested are capable of delivering a nuclear payload.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the strike as a major escalation of the “scope and brutality” of the war by a “crazy neighbor”, while Kiev’s main backer, the United States, said Russia was to blame for the escalation of the conflict ” at each return”.

Intermediate-range missiles typically have a range of up to 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles) — enough to meet Putin’s threat to strike the West.

In a defiant address to the nation, Russia’s president criticized Ukraine’s allies for giving Kiev permission to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian soil, warning of retaliation.

In recent days, Ukraine fired US- and UK-supplied missiles over Russian territory for the first time, escalating already high tensions in the nearly three-year-old conflict.

“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military installations of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our installations,” Putin said.

He said the US-sent Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and British Storm Shadow payloads were shot down by Moscow’s air defenses, adding: “The targets the enemy has obviously set were not hit.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, said Moscow informed Washington of the missile launch half an hour before it was launched via an automated denuclearization hotline, in remarks cited in state media.

He said earlier that Russia was doing everything to avoid a nuclear conflict after updating its nuclear doctrine this week.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Washington saw no need to alter its own US nuclear posture in response.

NATO spokesman Farah Dakhlallah said Russia’s use of the missile “will not change the course of the conflict or deter” the US-led defense alliance from supporting Kiev.

Ukraine earlier accused Russia of launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time in history — a claim Washington later played down.

The Ukrainian air force said Moscow had fired the missile as part of a barrage towards Dnipro, where local authorities said an infrastructure facility was hit and two civilians were injured.

Putin said Russia had conducted “combat testing of one of the newest … Russian missile systems,” called “Oreshnik.”

Criticizing the global response to the strike — “final proof that Russia definitely does not want peace” — Zelensky warned that other countries could also become targets for Putin.

“It is necessary to urge Russia to a real peace, which is possible only through force,” the Ukrainian leader said in his evening speech.

“Otherwise, there will be relentless Russian strikes, threats and destabilization, and not only against Ukraine.”

The attack on Dnipro comes just days after several foreign embassies temporarily closed in the Ukrainian capital, citing the threat of a large-scale strike.

“It’s another example of reckless behavior on the part of Russia,” a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, said the deployment of the new missile was “another worrisome and worrying development”, warning that the war was “going in the wrong direction”.

However, a US official downplayed the threat, saying on condition of anonymity that Russia “probably has only a handful of these” experimental missiles.

The head of Dnipropetrovsk region, where the city of Dnipro is located, said the Russian aerial bombardment damaged a rehabilitation center and several homes, as well as an industrial enterprise.

“Two people were injured — a 57-year-old man was treated at the scene and a 42-year-old woman was hospitalized,” said official Sergiy Lysak.

Russia and Ukraine have stepped up their use of long-range missiles in recent days since Washington gave Kiev permission to use its ATACMS against military targets inside Russia — a long-standing Ukrainian demand.

Meanwhile, British media reported on Wednesday that Kiev had launched UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Russia after being given the go-ahead by London.

With a range of 300 and 250 kilometers respectively, the range of both missile systems is much shorter than the experimental intermediate-range system launched by Russia.

Russia’s envoy to London said on Thursday that this meant Britain was “now directly involved” in the war in Ukraine, with Andrei Kelin telling Sky News that “this fire cannot happen” without the support of the UK and NATO.

But the White House’s Jean-Pierre countered that Russia was behind the rising tensions, pointing to the reported deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to help Moscow fight a Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region bordering Russia.

“The escalation at every step is coming from Russia,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that the United States had warned Moscow not to involve “another country in another part of the world,” referring to Pyongyang.

Moscow’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defense systems shot down two Storm Shadows, without saying whether they fell on Russian territory or in occupied Ukraine.

The missile escalation comes at a critical time on the ground for Ukraine as its defenses buckle under Russian pressure across the sprawling front line.

Russia claimed deeper advances in the war-torn Donetsk region, announcing on Thursday that its forces had captured another village near Kurakhove, closing in on the city after months of steady advances.

Moscow’s Defense Ministry said Russian forces had taken the small village of Dalne, five kilometers (three miles) south of Kurakhove.

Lysak, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said 26 people were wounded in another strike on the city of Kryvyi Rig, where Zelensky was born. AFP