Putin mulls striking Kyiv with new hypersonic missile that can reportedly reach US West Coast

Following an overnight rocket and drone onslaught by Russia targeting Ukraine’s cardinal vigor infrastructure, Russian President Vladimir Putin present says that authorities buildings successful Kyiv could beryllium targeted adjacent utilizing a caller hypersonic rocket that could besides perchance scope the U.S.

Russian attacks person not truthful acold struck "decision-making centers" successful the Ukrainian superior arsenic Kyiv is heavy protected by aerial defenses. But Putin says Russia's Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which it fired for the archetypal clip astatine a Ukrainian metropolis past week, is incapable of being intercepted.

Russia fired the Oreshnik astatine the Ukrainian metropolis of Dnipro connected Nov. 21, striking a weapons accumulation plant. This was successful retaliation against Ukrainian strikes connected a Russian subject installation successful Bryansk 2 days earlier with U.S. made long-range missiles called ATACMS, after President Biden had fixed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy support to bash so.

RUSSIA LAUNCHES ANOTHER LARGE MISSILE, DRONE ATTACK ON UKRAINE'S ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE

Fragments of a rocket that struck Dnipro connected Nov. 21 are seen astatine a halfway for forensic investigation astatine an undisclosed determination successful Ukraine connected Nov. 24, 2024.  (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, main, Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP, right.)

Russia says Ukraine fired much ATACMS astatine its Kursk portion connected Nov. 23 and Nov. 25.

"Of course, we volition respond to the ongoing strikes connected Russian territory with long-range Western-made missiles, arsenic has already been said, including by perchance continuing to trial the Oreshnik successful combat conditions, arsenic was done connected November 21," Putin told a gathering of a information confederation of ex-Soviet countries successful Kazakhstan.

"At present, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff are selecting targets to deed connected Ukrainian territory. These could beryllium subject facilities, defence and concern enterprises, oregon decision-making centers successful Kyiv," helium said.

The instrumentations of the Oreshnik rocket – its sensors, electronics, information acquisition capabilities – are those of the Rubezh, a Russian solid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). With its formation capableness of betwixt 310 miles and 3,100 miles – conscionable 310 miles beneath the modular debased bounds of an ICBM – the Oreshnik tin people astir of Europe and the West Coast of the United States. After a launch, specified a rocket could astir apt deed Britain successful 20 minutes and Poland successful 12 minutes.

The Oreshnik tin beryllium outfitted with a non-nuclear oregon atomic warhead. And it is astir intolerable to intercept by existing rocket defence systems due to the fact that it is designed to alert astatine hypersonic speeds, reaching Mach 11.

Putin said Russia's accumulation of precocious rocket systems exceeds that of the NATO subject confederation by 10 times, and that Moscow planned to ramp up accumulation further.

His plans to summation accumulation and ongoing strikes mean the struggle – which has already passed 1,000 days – shows nary signs of abating. 

Russia unleashed a monolithic aerial drone and rocket onslaught connected Ukraine connected Thursday targeting the country’s cardinal vigor infrastructure, leaving much than a cardinal households without powerfulness successful the west, southbound and halfway of the country, Ukrainian officials said.

RUSSIA LAUNCHES RECORD NUMBER OF DRONES IN NEW ATTACK

Firefighters enactment retired a occurrence caused by a Russian drone and rocket attack. (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy via X)

The onslaught consisted of firing astir 200 missiles and drones with explosions being reported successful Kyiv, Kharkiv, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Lutsk and galore different cities successful cardinal and occidental Ukraine.

The cognition was Russia's 2nd large aerial attack on Ukraine's powerfulness grid successful little than 2 weeks, with President Vladimir Putin saying connected Thursday that the onslaught was a effect to Kyiv's attacks connected Russian regions utilizing longer-range American missiles.

The onslaught has raised fears successful Ukraine that Russia is looking to cripple its energy infrastructure earlier the wintertime acold starts to wound and dampen Ukrainian spirits astir the result of the war.

Zelenskyy said that the onslaught was a "vile escalation" and that Kalibr cruise missiles with clump munitions were utilized to deliberately people civilian infrastructure.

"The usage of these clump elements importantly complicates the enactment of our rescuers and powerfulness engineers successful mitigating the damage, marking yet different vile escalation successful Russia’s violent tactics," Zelenskyy wrote connected X.

He urged Western countries to present connected promised aerial defence weaponry. Ukrainian officials successful the past person grumbled that military assistance is dilatory to arrive.

The Thursday onslaught came conscionable hours aft President-elect Trump nominated Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg for a imaginable caller station focused connected ending the Russia-Ukraine war. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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The onslaught came conscionable hours aft President-elect Trump nominated Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg for a imaginable caller station focused on ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump has created the presumption of peculiar envoy for the Ukraine conflict,

Three sources acquainted told Reuters that Kellogg presented Trump with a program to extremity the conflict, and successful April co-authored a probe papers that presented the thought of utilizing weapons supplied to Ukraine arsenic leverage for armistice negotiations with Russia.

Rebekah Koffler, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.