Putin: ‘Russia will test missiles in real combat situations'

A day after Russia struck Ukraine with a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) called Oreshnik (hazel tree), Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country would mass-produce new missiles and test them in live-fire tests. Putin’s announcement comes amid growing concerns that Russia is increasing the intensity of its aggression following the election of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who had vowed to end support for Ukraine.

“Depending on the security threats to Russia, we will continue to test (missiles) in real combat situations,” Putin said at a defense-related meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow Friday, according to Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency. Earlier, after Ukraine struck the Russian mainland with Western long-range missiles such as ATACMS with the permission of the U.S. and other Western powers, Russia immediately responded with Oreshniks to the south-central Ukrainian region of Dnipro.

“The Oreshnik missile is a high-precision weapon, not a weapon of mass destruction. However, if used in large numbers, it will produce results comparable to the effectiveness and power of nuclear weapons,” Putin said at the meeting. “It is necessary to produce this missile in serial production (mass production).”

“In addition to Oreshnik, similar systems (weapons) are being developed now,” Putin said. ”These weapons can also be put into production successively depending on the results of the tests.” Putin's comments indicate that the development of new weapons is continuing.


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