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In the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Israeli ambassador met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and got from him a guarantee that Moscow would not kill his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Now, 3 years later, Israel got into two wars of its own and implemented a jaw-dropping program of decapitation strikes that took out the complete leaderships of Hamas and Hezbollah.
But now, Russia, after having Western-made long-range missile strikes into its territory, has unveiled a new hypersonic weapon Oreshnik (Hazel), and after a first strike in a defense compound in Dnipropetrovsk, is warning that it may now use it against high-value political targets.
Putin said Moscow may use the Oreshnik to attack ‘decision-making centers’ in Kiev in response to Ukraine’s firing of Western missiles at Russian territory.
Reuters reported:
“Russia has not so far struck Ukrainian government ministries, parliament or the president’s office in the course of the 33-month war.”
Watch: Putin is asked if Russia is preparing for a new launch of the ‘Oreshnik’ at the ‘decision-making centers’ in Kiev. He recalls an old Soviet joke, and adds that ‘today, anything is possible’.
Putin is ready to strike everything in Ukraine with Hazel missile pic.twitter.com/BKBRSsVltN
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) November 28, 2024
While Kiev is heavily protected by air defenses, Putin has said that the ‘Hazel’ can’t be intercepted by any existing systems.
‘’Of course, we will respond to the ongoing strikes on Russian territory with long-range Western-made missiles, as has already been said, including by possibly continuing to test the Oreshnik in combat conditions, as was done on November 21’, Putin told leaders of a security alliance of ex-Soviet countries at a summit in Kazakhstan.
“At present, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory. These could be military facilities, defense and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centers in Kiev’, he said.”
Zelenskiy called this as ‘a tactic to disrupt attempts to end the war’.
“’He doesn’t seek an end to this war. Moreover, Putin wants to prevent others from ending the war’, Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. ‘He can go on wielding his Oreshnik only to thwart the efforts of President Trump which are sure to follow his inauguration. Putin wants to escalate the situation to such an extent so that President Trump’s attempts will fail. So that he cannot end the war’.”
Even without the Oreshnik, Russia is obliterating Ukraine’s energy system, using Kaliber cruise missiles with cluster munitions to cut power to more than 1 million people.
“Russia says Ukraine fired more ATACMS at its Kursk region on Nov. 23 and Nov. 25 and struck Russia with British Storm Shadow cruise missiles too, after the United States and Britain agreed for the first time to allow Kiev to strike deep inside Russian territory with these weapons.”
Russia has ‘several’ Oreshniks ready to use, and again warned that the missile was comparable to a nuclear weapon in terms of its destructive power and would ‘atomize’ everything at the point of impact.
Oreshnik missile:
– Top speed: Mach 10 (12,380 km/h)
– Rapid targeting: Can strike major European cities within minutes
– High penetration capability: Effective against heavily protected targets
– Strike power comparable to nuclear weapons pic.twitter.com/KmfFvum2q6— RT (@RT_com) November 29, 2024
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