Ukraine asks its Western allies for state-of-the-art air defense systems to protect itself after the attack of a hypersonic ballistic missile, whose mass production was ordered this Friday by Vladimir Putin, promising new shots against Moscow’s enemies.
Russia said it had attacked the city of Dnipro, in Ukraine, this Thursday with this new intermediate-range Orechnik missile (up to 5,500 km), a heavy missile with a strategic purpose but without its nuclear payload and which was fired from the Astrakhan region (southwest). of Russia), the first in this war, sent a chill through Europe.
“Limited number” of Orechnik missiles in stock
“The Minister of Defense of Ukraine is already in talks with our partners about new air defense systems, precisely the kind of systems that can protect lives from new risks,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message to his fellow citizens. published on Friday. late on social media.
Ukraine is equipped in particular with American Patriot systems, with which it claims to have already intercepted several Kinjal hypersonic missiles described as “invincible” by the Kremlin and its Franco-Italian equivalent Samp/T, but in a number too small to protect all its cities. . . But Russia once again claims to have, with the Orechnik missile, a device that is impossible to intercept and capable of reaching all the countries of Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the “power” of this weapon on Friday during a meeting with military officials broadcast on television and ordered “serial production to begin.”
“We will continue these tests, especially in combat situations, depending on the situation and the nature of the threats to Russia’s security,” declared the head of the Kremlin.
US President Joe Biden lifted his veto on these shots last weekend, advocating in particular the mobilization of thousands of North Korean soldiers alongside Russian troops. A senior US official on Friday tempered the threat posed by the new Russian missile.
“It was an experimental weapon of which Russia has a limited number and cannot regularly deploy on the battlefield,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On the ground, the Russian army has been advancing little by little for months at the cost of heavy losses in eastern Ukraine. A senior source in the Ukrainian General Staff indicated on Friday that Russian troops were advancing “200-300 meters per day” near Kurakhové, one of the towns that could soon fall.
Source: BFM TV
