President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Friday that Russia will continue testing and begin mass-producing the hypersonic ballistic missile launched at Ukraine on Thursday.
The missile strike marked a significant development in the conflict and came on the heels of a shift in U.S. policy, which authorized Ukraine to launch long-range missiles into Russian territory.
During a televised meeting with Russia’s defense ministry leadership, Putin asserted that the new missile is invulnerable to current air defense systems. “There are currently no means of countering such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world. And I will emphasize once again: We will continue testing the latest system,” Putin stated.
He also revealed that Russia is working on “several similar systems” for future testing. “Based on the test results, these weapons will also go into production. That is, we are developing a whole line of medium- and shorter-range systems,” Putin added.
His comments followed the firing of the “Oreshnik” missile, which is equipped with multiple warheads, at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro the previous day.
